TlfE HEROES

ill;

G II K K Iv V A I T, Y TALES

FOI{ MY CHILDREN

MACMFLLAN AND CO., LIMITED

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TORONTO

THE HEROES

GEEEK FAIRY TALES

FOE MY CHILDREN

BY

CHARLES K1XGSLEY

WITH ILLt'xTi;.\Tl»XX UY THE AUTHOR

MACMILLAN AND CO., LIMITKD

ST. MAKTIN'S STIIEET, LONDON

1008

First Edition printed December 1855 (dated 1856, Zi>o\ Second 1858

(Sup. Royal i6»io). Reprinted 1 864 (Pott Svo). Reprinted (with

coloured illustrations') 1868 (Ejct. Fcap. Svoj, 1873 1875, 1876

(Globe Sva), January, June, and December 1878 (Cr. Zvo),

1879, 1881, 1883, 1885, 1887. Third printed, April

1889. Reprinted iZgi, 1892, 1894, 1895,

1897, 1898, 1900, 1902, 1904, 1908

Ihic .xhW YORK

PUbL.L LIBRARY

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O

Printed by ~&. & R. CLARK, LIMITED, Edinburgh

TO

MY C II I L 1) K K X
EOSK: MAl'UICK, AND MARY

A T.n'TI.K I'RF.SKXT

OP OLD (,I;I:I;K FAIRY TALES

viii PREFACE

old Greeks left their mark behind them upon this
modern world in which we now live. And as you
grow up, and read more and more, you will find
that we owe to these old Greeks the beginnings

o o

of all our mathematics and geometry — that is, the
science and knowledge of numbers, and of the
shapes of things, and of the forces which make
things move and stand at rest ; and the beginnings

O 7 O O

of our geography and astronomy ; and of our laws,
and freedom, and politics — that is, the science of
how to rule a country, and make it peaceful and
strong. And we owe to them, too, the beginning
of our logic — that is, the study of words and of
reasoning ; and of our metaphysics — that is, the
study of our own thoughts and souls. And last of
all, they made their language so beautiful that
foreigners used to take to it instead of their own ;

I

and at last Greek became the common language of
educated people all over the old world, from Persia
and Egypt even to Spain and Britain. And
therefore it was that the New Testament was
written in Greek, that it might be read and
understood by all the nations of the Eoman empire ;

1'KKFACE ix

so that, next to the Jews, and the I'.ible which the
Jews handed down to us, we owe more to these old
(1 iveks than to any people upon earth.

Now you must remember one tiling — that
•Greeks' was not their real name. They called
themselves always ' Hellens,' Lut the Romans
miscalled them Greeks ; and we have taken that
wroii"- name from the Romans — it would take a

O

long time to tell you why. They were made up
of many tribes and many small separate states;
and when you hear in this book of Minuai, and
Athenians, and other such names, you must re-
member that they were all different tribes and
peoples of the one great Hellen race, who lived in
what we now call Greece, in the islands of the
Archipelago, and along the coast of Asia Minor
(Ionia, as they call it), from the Hellespont to
Rhodes, and had afterwards colonies and cities in
Sicily, and South Italy (which was called Greai
Greece), and along the shores of the I'.lack Sea
at Sinope, and Kertch, and at Sevastopol. And
after that, again, they spread under Alexander the
Gn-at, and conquered Kgypt, and Syria, and Persia,

x PREFACE

and the whole East, But that was many hundred
years after my stories ; for then there were no
Greeks on the Black Sea shores, nor in Sicily, or
Italy, or anywhere but in Greece and in Ionia.
And if you are puzzled by the names of places
in this book, you must take the maps and find
them out. It will be a pleasanter way of
learning geography than out of a dull lesson -
book.

Now, I love these old Hellens heartily ; and I
should be very ungrateful to them if I did not,
considering all that they have taught me ; and they
seem to me like brothers, though they have all
been dead and gone many hundred years ago. So
as you must learn about them, whether you choose
or not, I wish to be the first to introduce you to
them, and to say, ' Come hither, children, at this
blessed Christmas time, when all God's creatures
should rejoice together, and bless Him who redeemed
them all. Come and see old friends of mine,
whom I knew long ere you were born. They are
come to visit us at Christmas, out of the world
where all live to God ; and to tell you some of

1 'UK FACE xi

their old 1'aiiy talcs, which they loved when they
were young like you.'

For nations be^in at lirst. l>v lieiii'4 children like

«/

you, though they are made up of grown men.
Tlicy are children at first like you — men and
women with children's hearts ; frank, and affection-
ate, and full of trust, and teachable, and loving to
see and learn all the wonders round them; and
greedy also, too often, and passionate and silly, as
children are.

Thus these old Greeks were teachable, and
learnt from all the nations round. From the
Phoenicians they learnt shipbuilding, and some say
letters beside ; and from the Assyrians they learnt
painting, and carving, and building in wood and
stone ; and from the Egyptians they learnt astro-
nomy, and many things which you would not under-
stand. In this they were like our own forefathers
the Northmen, of whom you love to hear, who,
though they were wild and rough themselves, were
humble, and glad to learn from every one. There-
fore God rewarded these Greeks, as He rewarded
our forefathers, and made them wiser than the

xii PREFACE

people who taught them in everything they learnt ;
for He loves to see men and children open-hearted,
and willing to be taught ; and to him who uses
what he has got, He gives more and more day by
day. So these Greeks grew wise and powerful, and
wrote poems which will live till the world's end,
which you must read for yourselves some day, in
English at least, if not in Greek. And they learnt
to carve statues, and build temples, which are still
among the wonders of the world ; and many another
wondrous thing God taught them, for which we are
the wiser this day.

For you must not fancy, children, that because
these old Greeks were heathens, therefore God did
not care for them, and taught them nothing.

The Bible tells us that it was not so, but that
God's mercy is over all His works, and that He
understands the hearts of all people, and fashions all
their works. And St. Paul told these old Greeks
in after times, when they had grown wicked and
fallen low, that they ought to have known better,
because they were God's offspring, as their own
poets had said ; and that the good God had put them

PREFACE xiii

where they were, to seek the Lord, mid feel after
Him, and lind Him, though He was not 1'ar from
any one of them. And ('lenient of Alexandria, a
trivat Father of the, Church, who was as wise as he

O *

was good, said that God had sent down Philosophy
to the (Ireeks IVom heaven, as lie sent down the
Gospel to the Je\v<.

For Jesus Christ, remember, is the Light who
lights every man who comes into the world. And
no one can think a right thought, or feel a right
feeling, or understand the real truth of anything in
earth and heaven, unless the good Lord Jesus teaches
him hy His Spirit, which gives man understanding.

Put these Greeks, as St. Paul told them, forgot
what God had taught them, and, though they were
God's offspring, worshipped idols of wood and stone,
and fell at la-t into sin and shame, and then, of
course, into cowardice and slavery, till they perished
out of that beautiful land which God had given them
for so many years.

For, like all nations who have left anything lie-
hind them, beside mere mounds of earth, they be-
lieved at first in the One True (lodwho made all

xiv PREFACE

heaven and earth. But after a while, like all other
nations, they began to worship other gods, or rather
angels and spirits, who (so they fancied) lived about
their land. Zeus, the Father of gods and men
(who was some dim remembrance of the blessed true
God), and Hera his wife, and Phcebus Apollo the
. Sun-god, and Pallas Athene who taught men
wisdom and useful arts, and Aphrodite the Queen
of Beauty, and Poseidon the Ruler of the Sea, and
Hephaistos the King of the Fire, who taught men
to work in metals. And they honoured the Gods
of the Rivers, and the Nymph-maids, who they
fancied lived in the caves, and the fountains, and
the glens of the forest, and all beautiful wild places.
And they honoured the Erinnues, the dreadful
sisters, who, they thought, haunted guilty men until
their sins were purged away. And many other
dreams they had, which parted the One God into
many ; and they said, too, that these gods did things
which would be a shame and sin for any man to
do. And when their philosophers arose, and told
them that God was One, they would not listen, but
loved their idols, and their wicked idol feasts, till

PREFACE xv

they all came to ruin. ]>ut we will talk of such
sad things no m<>iv.

I'.ui. at the time of which this little hook speaks,
they had not fallen as lo\v as that. They wor-
shipped no idols, as fiii- as [ can find; and they
still helieved in the last six of the, ten command-
ments, and knew well what was right and what was
wrong. And they helieved (and that was what
gave them courage) that the gods loved men, and
taught them, and that without the gods men were
sure to come to ruin. And in that they were right
enough, as we know — more right even than they
thought; for without God we can do nothing, and
all wisdom comes from Him.

N'ow, you must not think of them in this hook
as learned men, living in great cities, such as they
were afterwards, when they wrought all their heauti-
ful works, hut as country people, living in farms
and walled villages, in a simple, hard-working way;
so that the greatest kings and heroes cooked their
own meals, and thought it no shame, and made their
own ships and weapons, and led and harnessed their
own horses; ami the inieens worked with their maid-

6

xvi PREFACE

servants, and did all the business of the house, and
spun, and wove, and embroidered, and made their
husbands' clothes and their own. So that a man
was honoured among them, not because he happened
to be rich, but according to his skill, and his
strength, and courage, and the number of things
which he could do. For they were but grown-up
children, though they were right noble children too ;
and it was with them as it is now at school — the
strongest and cleverest boy, though he be poor, leads
all the rest.

Now, while they were young and simple they
loved fairy tales, as you do now. All nations do so
when they are young : our old forefathers did, and
called their stories ' Sagas.' I will read you some
of them some day — some of the Eddas, and the
Voluspa, and Beowulf, and the noble old Eomances.
The old Arabs, again, had their tales, which we now
call the 'Arabian Nights.' The old Eomans had
theirs, and they called them ' Tabulae,' from which
our word ' fable ' comes ; but the old Hellens called
theirs ' Muthoi,' from which our new word ' myth '
is taken. But next to those old Romances, which

PREFACE .\\ii

were written in tin- ( 'hristian middle age, there arc
mi fairy tales like these old (Jreek ones, for beauty,
and wisdom, and truth, and for making children
love noble deeds, and trust in (lod to help them
through.

Xo\v, why have I called this book 'The Heroes'?
Uecause that was the name which the Ilellens gave
to men who were brave and skilful, and dare do
more than other men. At first, I think, that was
all it meant : but after a time it came to mean
something more ; it came to mean men who helped
their country ; men in those old times, when tin-
country was half- wild, who killed fierce beasts and
evil men, and drained swamps, and founded town-,
and therefore after they were dead, were honoured,
because they had left their country better than they
found it. And we call such a man a hero in Knglish
to this day, and call it a 'heroic1 thing to sutler
pain and grief, that we ma\ do good to our fellow-
men. AVe may all do that, my children, boys and
girls alike; and we ought to do it, for it is easier
now than ever, and safer, and the path more cle;ii.
Hut you shall he'jr how the Hellens said their

xviii PREFACE

worked, three thousand years ago. The stories are
not all true, of course, nor half of them ; you are
not simple enough to fancy that ; but the meaning
of them is true, and true for ever, and that is —
' Do right, and God will help you.'

FAKLEY Corirr,

Advent, 1855.

CONTENTS

STOKY I. —PERSEUS

TAOF,

PAKT I.— How ]'n;sr.rs AND HIS MOTHER CAMK TO

SlKII'IIos 1

II.— H<>\\- PERSEUS VOWKD A HASH Ynw

III. —How PEHSECS SLEW THE GOKGOX ... 23

I\'.— How I'EKSEUS CAME TO THK ^Eraioi's . . 36

Y.— How PERSEUS CAME HOME ACAIN ... 53

STORY 1 1. -THE ARGONAUTS

TAUT I.— How THK CKXTAUK TUAI.NI n THE HEKOKS ox

PELION 60

II.— How JAM PX LOST HIS SAXDAL IN AXAUUOS . 73

III.— How THEY iirii/r THE SHIP 'Anno' ix loi.cos 87

IY. — How THE AKCOXAUTS SAILED TO COI.CHIS . 93
Y. — How THE AKGOXAUTS WEIIE UKIVEN IXTO

THE UNKXOWX SEA 127

YI. — \YHAT WAS THE EXD OF THE HEKOES . . 161

STORY III.— THESEUS

TAUT I. — How THESETS LIFTED THE STONE . . . 165

II.— How THESEUS SLEW THE DEVOI-I:EI:S OF MEN 17ii

III.— How Tur.sF.rs SLEW THE MIXOTAVIL . . 206

IV. — How THESEUS FELL BY ins PIUDE . -Jl 1

[I n\vi: an apology to tlie few scholars who may happen to read
this hasty./'/' '/'<>•/</•//, for the inconsistent method in which I have
-j" '.I i Miik names. The rule which I have tried to follow has
1'i'rii this: when the word has been hopelessly Latinised, as
' I'ln elms' has been, I have left it as it usually stands; Imt in
other rases I have tried to keep the plain Greek spelling, except
when it would have seemed pedantic, or when, as in the word
'Tiphns,' I should have given an altogether wrong notion of
the sound of the word. It has been a choice ol ' dillienltics, which
lias been forced on me by our strange habit of introducing boys to
the Greek m\ths, not in tin. ir original shape, but i:i a Roman
disguise.]

STORY L-PEPiSEUS

PART I

HOW I'ERSKI'S AND HIS MOTHER CAME TO SERIPHOS

ONCE upon a time there were two princes who were
twins. Their names were Acrisius and Prcetus, and
they lived in the pleasant vale of Argos, far away in
Hellas. They had fruitful meadows and vineyards,
-Inrp and oxen, great herds of horses feeding down
in Lerna Fen, and all that men could need to make
them blest : and yet they were wretched, because
they were jealous of each other. From the moment
they were born they began to quarrel; and when
they LM'ew up each tried to take away the other's
>liaru of the kingdom, and keep all for himself.
So first Acrisius drove out Prcetus; and he went
aeross the seas, and brought home a foreign princess
for his wife, and foreign warriors to help him, who

were called Cyclopes; and drove out Acrisius in his
£ B

2 THE HEROES STORY i

turn ; and then they fought a long while up and
down the land, till the quarrel was settled, and
Acrisius took Argos and one half the land, and
Proetus took Tiryns and the other half. And
Proetus and his Cyclopes built around Tiryns great
walls of unhewn stone, which are standing to this
day.

But there carne a prophet to that hard-hearted
Acrisius and prophesied against him, and said,
' Because you have risen up against your own
blood, your own blood shall rise up against you ;
because you have sinned against your kindred, by
your kindred you shall be punished. Your daughter
Danae shall bear a son, and by that son's hands
you shall die. So the Gods have ordained, and it
will surely come to pass.'

And at that Acrisius was very much afraid ; but
he did not mend his ways. He had been cruel to
his own family, and, instead of repenting and being
kind to them, he went on to be more cruel than
ever : for he shut up his fair daughter Danae in a
cavern underground, lined with brass, that no one
might come near her. So he fancied himself more
cunning than the Gods : but you will see presently
whether he Avas able to escape them.

Now it came to pass that in time Danae bore a

i -A i IT i PERSEUS

son ; so beautiful a babe that any but King Acrisius

\> O

would have had pity on it. I'>ut he had no pity; for
he took Dauae and her babe down to the seashore,
and put them into a great chest and thrust them
out to sea, for the winds and the waves to carry
them whithersoever they would.

The north-west wind blew freshly out of the blue
mountains, and down the pleasant vale of Argos,
and away and out to sea. And away and out
to sea before it floated the mother and her babe,
while all who watched them wept, save that cruel
father, King Acrisius.

So they floated on and on, and the chest danced
up and down upon the billows, and the baby slept
upon its mother's breast : but the poor mother could
not sleep, but watched and wept, and she sang to
her baby as they floated; and the song which she
sang you shall learn yourselves some day.

And now they are past the last blue headland,
and in the open sea ; and there is nothing round
them but the waves, and the sky, and the wind.
I'.ut the waves are gentle, and the sky is clear,
and the breeze is tender and low; fur these are
the days when Halcyoue and < Vyx build tln-ir
nests, and no storms ever ruffle the pleasant summer
sea.

4 THE HEROES STORY i

And who were Halcyone and Ceyx ? You shall
hear while the chest floats on. Halcyone was a

fairy maiden, the daughter of the beach and of the
wind. And she loved a sailor-boy, and married
him ; and none on earth were so happy as they.

PAKT i 1'KRSEUS 5

]'>nt at last ('cyx was wrecked; and before lie could
swim tn ilic shore the billows swallowed liini up.
And llalcynne saw him drowning, and leapt into
the sea to him ; but in vain. Then the Immortals
took pity on them both, and changed them into two
fair sea-birds ; and now they build a floating nest
every year, and sail up and down happily for ever
upon the pleasant seas of Greece.

So a night passed, and a day, and a long day it
was for Danae; and another night and day beside,
till Danae was faint with hunger and weeping, and
yet no land appeared. And all the while the
babe slept quietly ; and at last poor Danae drooped
her head and fell asleep likewise with her cheek
against the babe's.

After a while she was awakened suddenly ; for
the chest was jarring and grinding, and the air was
full of sound. She looked up, and over her head
were mighty cliffs, all red in the setting sun, and
around her rocks and breakers, and flying flakes of
foam. She clasped her hands together, and shrieked
aloud for help. And when she cried, help met her :
for now there came over the rocks a tall and stately
man, and looked down wondering upon poor Danae
tossing about in the chest among the waves.

He wore a rough cloak of frieze, and on his head

6 THE HEROES STORY i

a broad hat to shade his face ; in his hand he
carried a trident for spearing fish, and over his
shoulder was a casting- net ; but Danae could see
that he was no common man by his stature, and his
walk, and his flowing golden hair and beard ; and
by the two servants who came behind him, carrying
baskets for his fish. But she had hardly time to
look at him, before he had laid aside his trident
and leapt down the rocks, and thrown his casting-net
so surely over Danae and the chest, that he drew it,
and her, and the baby, safe upon a ledge of rock.

Then the fisherman took Danae by the hand,
and lifted her out of the chest, and said—

' 0 beautiful damsel, what strange chance has
brought you to this island in so frail a ship ? Who
are you, and whence ? Surely you are some king's
daughter ; and this boy has somewhat more than
mortal.'

And as he spoke he pointed to the ba.be ; for its
face shone like the morning star.

But Danae only held down her head, and sobbed
out—

' Tell me to what land I have come, unhappy
that I am ; and among what men I have fallen ! '

And he said, ' This isle is called Seriphos, and I
am a Helleu, and dwell in it. I am the brother of

PART i i-F.i:si-:us 7

Polydectes the king; and men call me Dictys the
netter, because I catch the fish of the shore.'

Then Danae fell down at his feet, and embraced
his knees, and cried —

' Oh, sir, have pity upon a stranger, whom a
cruel doom has driven to your land ; and let me
live in your house as a servant; but treat me
honourably, for I was once a king's daughter, and
this my boy (as you have truly said) is of no
common race. I will not be a charge to you, or eat
the bread of idleness ; for I am more skilful in
weaving and embroidery than all the maidens of
my land.'

And she was going on ; but Dictys stopped her,
and raised her up, and said—

' My daughter, I am old, and my hairs are grow-
ing gray; while I have no children to make my
home cheerful. Come with me then, and you shall
be a daughter to me and to my wife, and this babe
shall be our grandchild. For I fear the Gods, and
show hospitality to all strangers; knowing that
good deeds, like evil ones, always return to those
who do them.'

So Danae was comforted, and went home with
Dietys the good fisherman, and was a daughter to
him and to his wife, till fifteen years were past.

PART II

HOW PERSEUS VOWED A RASH VOW

FIFTEEN years were past and gone, and the babe
was now grown to be a tall lad and a sailor, and
went many voyages after merchandise to the islands
round. His mother called him Perseus ; but all
the people in Seriphos said that he was not the son
of mortal man, and called him the son of Zeus, the
king of the Immortals. For though he was but
fifteen, he was taller by a head than any man in
the island ; and he was the most skilful of all in
running and wrestling and boxing, and in throwing
the quoit and the javelin, and in rowing with the
oar, and in playing on the harp, and in all which
befits a man. And he was brave and truthful,
gentle and courteous, for good old Dictys had
trained him well ; and well it was for Perseus that
he had done so. For now Danae and her son fell
into great danger, and Perseus had need of all his
wit to defend his mother and himself.

PART ii 1'KRSEUS 9

I said that Dietvs' brother \vas I'olvdeetes, kin1'

«. */ O

of the island. He was not a righteous man, like
Dictys: but ^reedv. and cunning, and cruel. And

. O v ' •

when he saw fair Danae, he wanted to marry her.
P>ut she would not; for she did not love him, and
cared for no one but her boy, and her boy's father,
whom she never hoped to see again. At last Poly-
dectes became furious ; and while Perseus was away
at sea lie took poor Danae away from Dictys, say-
ing, ' If you will not be my wife, you shall be my
slave.' So Danae was made a slave, and had to
fetch water from the well, and grind in the mill,
and perhaps was beaten, and wore a heavy chain,
because she would not marry that cruel king. But
Perseus was far away over the seas in the isle of
Samos, little thinking how his mother was languish-
ing in grief.

\o\v one day at Samos, while the ship was lading,
Perseus wandered into a pleasant wood to get out
of the sun, and sat down on the turf and fell asleep.
And as he slept a strange dream came to him — the
strangest dream which he had ever had in his life.

There came a lady to him. through the wood,
taller than he, or any mortal man ; but beautiful
exceedingly, with great gray eyes, clear and pieiving,
but strangely soft and mild. On her head was a

10 THE HEROES STORY i

helmet, and in her hand a spear. And over her
shoulder, above her long blue robes, hung a goat-
skin, which bore up a mighty shield of brass, polished
like a mirror. She stood and looked at him with
her clear gray eyes ; and Perseus saw that her eye-
lids never moved, nor her eyeballs, but looked straight
through and through him, and into his very heart, as
if she could see all the secrets of his soul, and knew
all that he had ever thought or longed for since the
day that he was born. And Perseus dropped his
eyes, trembling and blushing, as the wonderful lady
spoke.

' Perseus, you must do an errand for me.'
' Who are you, lady ? And how do you know
my name ? '

'I am Pallas Athene; and I know the thoughts
of all men's hearts, and discern their manhood or
their baseness. And from the souls of clay I turn
away, and they are blest, but not by me. They
fatten at ease, like sheep in the pasture, and eat
what they did not sow, like oxen in the stall. They
grow and spread, like the gourd along the ground ;
but, like the .gourd, they give no shade to the
traveller, and when they are ripe death gathers
them, and they go down unloved into hell, and their
name vanishes out of the land.

ii PERSEUS 11

' I'.ut to the souls of tin- I give more lire, ami to
those who are manful I give a might more than
man's. These are the heroes, the sons of the
Immortals, who arc blest, Imt not like the souls <>f
clay. Km- I drive them forth by strange paths,
iVrseus, that they may tight the Titans and the
ministers, the enemies of (!ods and men. Through
doubt and need, danger and battle, I drive them;
and some of them are slain in the flower of youth,
no man knows when or where; and some of them
win noble names, and a fair and green old age; but
what will be their latter end I know not, and none,
save Zeus, the father of Gods and men. Tell me
now, Perseus, which of these two sorts of men seem
to you more blest ? '

Then Perseus answered boldly : ' Better to die in
the flower of youth, on the chance of winning a
noble name, than to live at ease like the sheep, and
die unloved and unrenowned.'

Then that strange lady laughed, and held up her
brazen shield, and cried: 'See here, Perseus; dare
you face such a monster as this, and slay it, that I
may place its head upon this shield ? '

And in the mirror of the shield there appeared a
fare, and as Perseus looked on it his blood ran cold.
It was the face of a beautiful woman ; but her

12 THE HEROES STORY i

cheeks were pale as death, and her brows were knit
with everlasting pain, and her lips were thin and
bitter like a snake's ; and instead of hair, vipers
wreathed about her temples, and shot out their
forked tongues ; while round her head were folded
wings like an eagle's, and upon her bosom claws of
brass.

And Perseus looked awhile, and then said :
' If there is anything so fierce and foul on earth, it
were a noble deed to kill it. Where can I find the
monster ? '

Then the strange lady smiled again, and said :
' Not yet ; you are too young, and too unskilled ;
for this is Medusa the G-orgou, the mother of a
monstrous brood. Eeturn to your home, and do the
work which waits there for you. You must play
the man in that before I can think you worthy to
go in search of the Gorgon.'

Then Perseus would have spoken, but the strange
lady vanished, and he awoke ; and behold, it was a
dream. But day and night Perseus saw before him
the face of that dreadful woman, with the vipers
writhing round her head.

So he returned home ; and when he came to
Seriphos, the first thing which he heard was that his
mother was a slave in the house of Polydectes.

PART II PERSEUS 13

(Irinding his teeth with rage, he went out, and
away tn the kind's palace, ami through the men's
rooms, and the. women's rooms, and so through all the
house (for no one dared stop him, so terrible and
fair was he), till he found his mother sitting on the
floor, turning the stone hand-mill, and weeping as
she turned it. And he lifted her up, and kissed
her, and hade her follow him forth. Hut Itefoiv
they could pass out of the room Polydectes came in,
racing. And when Perseus saw him, he ilew upon
him as the mastiff flies on the hoar. ' Villain and
tyrant ! ' lie cried ; ' is this your respect for the
Gods, and thy mercy to strangers and widows?
You shall die!' And because he had no sword he
caught up the stone hand-mill, and lifted it to dash
out Polydectes' brains.

But his mother clung to him, shrieking, 'Oh, my
sou, we are strangers and helpless in the land; and
if you kill the king, all the people will fall on us,
and wo shall both die.'

(iood Dictys, too, who had come in, entreated him.
'Remember that lie is my brother. I.'emember
how I have, brought you up, and trained you as my
own son, and spare him for my sake.'

Then Perseus lowered his hand; and I'olydeetes,
who had been trembling all this while like a coward,

14 THE HEROES STORY i

because lie knew that he was in the wrong, let
Perseus and his mother pass.

Perseus took his mother to the temple of Athene^
and there the priestess made her one of the temple-
sweepers ; for there they knew she would be safe,
and not even Polydectes would dare to drag her
away from the altar. And there Perseus, and the
good Dictys, and his wife, came to visit her every
day ; while Polydectes, not being able to get what
he wanted by force, cast about in his wicked heart
how he might get it by cunning.

Now he was sure that he could never get back
Danae as long as Perseus was in the island ; so he
made a plot to rid himself of him. And first he pre-
tended to have forgiven Perseus, and to have forgotten
Danae; so that, for a while, all went as smoothly as ever.
Next he proclaimed a great feast, and invited to
it all the chiefs, and landowners, and the young men
of the island, and among them Perseus, that they
might all do him homage as their king, and eat of
his banquet in his hall.

On the appointed day they all came-; and as the
custom was then, each guest brought his present
with him to the king : one a horse, another a shawl,
or a ring, or a sword ; and those who had nothing
better brought a basket of grapes, or of game ; but

i-AKT ii PERSEUS 15

Perseus brought nothing, for he had nothing to
hring, being but a poor sailor-lad.

lie was ashamed, however, to go into the king's
presence without his gift ; and he was too proud to
ask Dictys to lend him one. So he stood at the
door sorrowfully, watching the rich men go in ; and
his face grew very red as they pointed at him, and
smiled, and whispered, 'What has that foundling
to give ? '

Now this was what Polydectes wanted ; and as
soon as he heard that Perseus stood without, he
bade them bring him in, and asked him scornfully
before them all, 'Am I not your king, Perseus, and
have I not invited you to my feast ? Where is
your present, then ? '

Perseus blushed and stammered, while all the
proud men round laughed, and some of them began
jeering him openly. ' This fellow was thrown
ashore here like a piece of weed or drift-wood, and
yet he is too proud to bring a gift to the king.'

'And though he does not know who his father
is, he is vain enough to let the old women call him
the son of Zeus.'

And so forth, till poor Perseus grew mad with

shame, and hardly knowing what he said, cried out,

— ' A present ! who are you who talk of presents ?

16 THE HEROES STORY i

See if I do not bring a nobler one than all of yours
together ! '

So he said boasting ; and yet he felt in his heart
that he was braver than all those scoffers, and more
able to do some glorious deed.

' Hear him ! Hear the boaster ! What is it to
be ? ' cried they all, laughing louder than ever.

Then his dream at Samos came into his mind,
and he cried aloud, ' The head of the Gorgon.'

He was half afraid after he had said the words ;
for all laughed louder than ever, and Polydectes
loudest of all.

' You have promised to bring me the Gorgon's
head ? Then never appear again in this island
without it. Go ! '

Perseus ground his teeth with rage, for he saw
that he had fallen into a trap ; but his promise lay
upon him, and he went out without a word.

Down to the cliffs he went, and looked across
the broad blue sea; and he wondered if his dream
were true, and prayed in the bitterness of his soul.

' Pallas Athene, was my dream true ? and shall
I slay the Gorgon ? If thou didst really show me
her face, let me not come to shame as a liar and
boastful. Rashly and angrily I promised ; but
cunningly and patiently will I perform.'

1'AIIT II I'KliSKI'S I?

P)iit there was no answer, nor sign; neither
thunder nor any appearance ; not even a cloud in
the sky.

And three times Perseus called weeping, ' Itashly
and angrily I promised ; but cunningly and patiently
will I perform.'

Then he saw afar off above the sea a small white
cloud, as bright as silver. And it came on, nearer
and nearer, till its brightness da/xled his eyes.

Perseus wondered at that strange cloud, for there
was no other cloud all round the sky ; and he
trembled as it touched the cliff below. And as it
touched, it broke, and parted, and within it appeared
Pallas Athene, as he had seen her at Samos in his
dream, and beside her a young man more light-
limbed than the stag, whose eyes were like sparks
of fire. I>y his side was a scimitar of diamond, all
of one clear precious stone, and on his feet were
golden sandals, from the heels of which grew living

wings.

They looked upon Perseus keenly, and yet they
never moved their eyes ; and they came up the
cliffs towards him more swiftly than the sea-gull,
and yet they never moved their feet, nor did the
breeze stir the robes about their limbs ; only the

wings of the youth's sandals (piivered, like a hawk's

C

18 THE HEROES STORY i

when he hangs above the cliff. And Perseus fell
down and worshipped, for he knew that they were
more than man.

But Athene stood before him and spoke gently,
and bid him have no fear. Then—

' Perseus,' she said, ' he who overcomes in one
trial merits thereby a sharper trial still. You have
braved Polydectes, and done manfully. Dare you
brave Medusa the Gorgon ? '

And Perseus said, ' Try me ; for since you spoke
to me in Samos a new soul has come into my breast,
and I should be ashamed not to dare anything
which I can do. Show me, then, how I can do
this ! '

' Perseus,' said Athene, ' think well before you
attempt ; for this deed requires a seven years'
journey, in which you cannot repent or turn back
nor escape ; but if your heart fails you, you must
die in the Unshapen Land, where no man will ever
find your bones.'

' Better so than live here, useless and despised,'
said Perseus. ' Tell me, then, oh tell me, fair and
wise Goddess, of your great kindness and condescen-
sion, how I can do but this one thing, and then, if
need be, die ! '

Then Athene smiled and said —

i-AKT ii PERSEUS 19

' r>e patient, and listen; for if you forget my
words, you will indeed die. You must go northward

-.

to the country of the Hyperboreans, who live beyond
tin- pole, at the sources of the cold north wind, till
you find the three Gray Sisters, who have but one
eye and one tooth between them. You must ask
them the way to the Nymphs, the daughters of the
Evening Star, win) dance about the golden tree, in
the Atlantic island of the west. Thev will tell you

i/ %]

the way to the Gorgon, that you may slay her, my
enemy, the mother of monstrous beasts. Once she
was a maiden as beautiful as morn, till in her pride
she sinned a sin at which the sun hid his face : and
from that day her hair was turned to vipers, and
her hands to eagle's claws ; and her heart was filled
with shame and rage, and her lips with bitter venom ;
and her eyes became so terrible that whosoever looks
on them is turned to stone ; and her children are
the winged horse and the giant of -the golden sword ;
and her grandchildren are Echidna the witch-adder,
and (ieryon the three-headed tyrant, who feeds his
herds In-side the herds of hell. So she became the
sister of the Gorgons, Stheino and Euryale the
abhorred, the daughters of the Queen of the Sea.
Toucli them not, for they are immortal; but bring
me onlv Mi-dnsa's head.1

20 THE HEROES STORY i

' And I will bring it ! ' said Perseus ; ' but how
am I to escape her eyes ? Will she not freeze me
too into stone ? '

' You shall take this polished shield,' said
Athene, ' and when you come near her look not at her
herself, but at her image in the brass ; so you may
strike her safely. And when you have struck off
her head, wrap it, with your face turned away, in
the folds of the goat-skin on which the shield hangs,
the hide of Amaltheie, the nurse of the ^Egis-holder.
So you will bring it safely back to me, and win to
yourself renown, and a place among the heroes who
feast with the Immortals upon the peak where no
winds blow.'

Then Perseus said, ' I will go, though I die in
going. But how shall I cross the seas without a
ship ? And who will show me my way ? And
when I find her, how shall I slay her, if her scales
be iron and brass ? '

Then the young man spoke : ' These sandals of
mine will bear you across the seas, and over hill
and dale like a bird, as they bear me all day long ;
for I am Hermes, the far-famed Argus - slayer, the
messenger of the Immortals who dwell on Olympus.'

Then Perseus fell down and worshipped, while
the young man spoke again :

i-AKT ii PERSEUS 21

' The sandals themselves will guide vou on the

tf

road, I'm- they are divine and cannot stray ; and this
sword itself, the Argus-slayer, will kill her, for it is
divine, and needs no second stroke. Arise, and gird
them on, and go forth.'

So Perseus arose, and girded on the sandals and
the sword.

And Athene cried, ' Now leap from the cliff and
be gone.'

But Perseus lingered.

' May I not bid farewell to my mother and to
Dictys ? And may I not offer burnt-offerings to
you, and to Hermes the far-famed Argus-slayer, and
to Father Zeus above ? '

' You shall not bid farewell to your mother,
lest your heart relent at her weeping. I will
comfort her and Dictys until you return in
peace. Nor shall you offer burnt-offerings to the
Olympians ; for your offering shall be Medusa's
head. Leap, and trust in the armour of the
Immortals.'

Then Perseus looked down the elilf and shuddered ;
but he was ashamed to show his dread. Then he
thought of Medusa and the renown before him, and
he leaped into the empty air.

And behold, instead of falling he floated, and

22 THE HEROES STORY i

stood, and ran along the sky. He looked back, but
Athene had vanished, and Hermes ; and the sandals
led him on northward ever, like a crane who follows
the spring toward the Ister fens.

PART III

HOW PERSEUS SLEW THE GORGOX

So Perseus started on his journey, going dry-shod
over land and sea; and his heart was high and
joyful, for the winged sandals bore him each day a
seven days' journey.

And he went by Cythnus, and by Ceos, and the
pleasant Cyclades to Attica ; and past Athens and
Thebes, and the Copaic lake, and up the vale of
Cephissus, and past the peaks of (Eta and Pindus,
and over the rich Thessalinn plains, till the sunny
hills of Greece were behind him, and before him
were the wilds of the north. Then he passed the
Thracian mountains, and many a barbarous tribe,
l';i'ons and Dardans and Triballi, till he came to the
Ister stream, and the dreary Scythian plains. And
he walked across the Ister dry-shod, and away
through the moors and feus, day and night toward
the bleak north-west, turning neither to the right

24 THE HEROES STORY i

hand nor the left, till he came to the Unshapen
Land, and the place which has no name.

And seven days he walked through it, on a path
which few can tell ; for those who have trodden it
like least to speak of it, and those who go there
again in dreams are glad enough when they awake ;
till he came to the edge of the everlasting night,
where the air was full of feathers, and the soil was
hard with ice ; and there at last he found the three
Gray Sisters, by the shore of the freezing sea,
nodding upon a white log of drift-wood, beneath
the cold white winter moon ; and they chaunted a
low song together, ' Why the old times were better
than the new.'

There was no living thing around them, not a fly,
not a moss upon the rocks. Neither seal nor sea-
gull dare come near, lest the ice should clutch them
in its claws. The surge broke up in foam, but it
fell again in flakes of snow ; and it frosted the hair
of the three Gray Sisters, and the bones in the ice-
cliff above their heads. They passed the eye from
one to the other, but for all that they could not see ;
and they passed the tooth from one to the other,
but for all that they could not eat ; and they sat
in the full glare of the moon, but they were none
the warmer for her beams. And Perseus pitied

i AIM in PERSEUS 25

the three Gray Sisters; but they did not pity
themselves.

So lie said, 'Oh, venerable mothers, wisdom is
the daughter of old age. You therefore should
know many tilings. Tell me, if you can, the path
to the Gorgon.'

Then one cried, ' Who is this who reproaches us
with old age ? ' And another, ' This is the voice
of one of the children of men.'

And he, ' I do not reproach, but honour your
old age, and T am one of the sons of men and of
the heroes. The rulers of Olympus have sent me
to you to ask the way to the Gorgon.'

Then one, ' There are new rulers in Olympus,
and all new tilings are bad.' And another, 'Wr
hate your rulers, and the heroes, and all the children
of men. We are the kindred of the Titans, and the
Giants, and the Gorgons, and the ancient monsters
of the deep.' And another, ' Who is this rash and
insolent man who pushes unbidden into our world ? '
Ami the first, 'There never was such a world as
ours, nor will be; if we let him see it, he will spoil
it all.'

Then one cried, 'Give me the eye, that I may
see him;' and another, '(live me the tooth, that I
may bite him.' JUit Perseus, when he saw that

26 THE HEROES STORY i

they were foolish and proud, and did not love the
children of men, left off pitying them, and said to
himself, ' Hungry men must needs be hasty ; if I
stay making many words here, I shall be starved.'
Then he stepped close to them, and watched till
they passed the eye from hand to hand. And as
they groped about between themselves, he held out
his own hand gently, till one of them put the eye
into it, fancying that it was the hand of her sister.
Then he sprang back, and laughed, and cried —

' Cruel and proud old women, I have your eye ;
and I will throw it into the sea, unless you tell me
the path to the Gorgon, and swear to me that you
tell me right.'

Then they wept, and chattered, and scolded ; but
in vain. They were forced to tell the truth, though,
when they told it, Perseus could hardly make out
the road.

' You must go,' they said, ' foolish boy, to the
southward, into the ugly glare of the sun, till you
come to Atlas the Giant, who holds the heaven and
the earth apart. And you must ask his daughters,
the Hesperides, who are young and foolish like your-
self. And now give us back our eye, for we have
forgotten all the rest.'

So Perseus gave them back their eye ; but instead

PART in PERSEUS

of using it, they nodded and fell fast asleep, and
"\vere turned into blocks of ice, till the tide came up
and washed them all away. And now they float
up and down like icebergs for ever, weeping when-
ever they meet the sunshine, and the fruitful summer,
and the warm south wind, which (ill young hearts
with joy.

But Perseus leaped away to the southward, leaving
the snow and the ice behind: past the isle of the
Hyperboreans, and the tin isles, and the long Iberian
shore, while the sun rose higher day by day upon a
bright blue summer sea. And the terns and the
sea-gulls swept laughing round his head, and called
to him to stop and play, and the dolphins gambolled
up as he passed, and offered to carry him on their
backs. And all night long the sea-nymphs saii^-
sweetly, and the Tritons blew upon their conchs, as
they played round Galatea their queen, in her car
of pearled shells. Day by day the sun rose higher,
and leaped more swiftly into the sea at night, and
more swiftly out of the sea at dawn ; while Perseus
skimmed over the billows like a sea-gull, and his
feet were never wetted ; and leapt on from wave to
wave, and his limbs were never weary, till he saw
far away a mighty mountain, all rose-red in tin-
setting sun. Its feet were wrapped in forests, ami

28 THE HEROES STORY i

its head in wreaths of cloud; and Perseus knew
that it was Atlas, who holds the heavens and the
earth apart.

He came to the mountain, and leapt on shore,
and wandered upward, among pleasant valleys and
waterfalls, and tall trees and strange ferns and
flowers ; but there was no smoke rising from any
glen, nor house, nor sign of man.

At last he heard sweet voices singing ; and he
guessed that he was come to the garden of the
Nymphs, the daughters of the Evening Star.

They sang like nightingales among the thickets,
and Perseus stopped to hear their song; but the
words which they spoke he could not understand ;
no, nor no man after him for many a hundred years.
So he stepped forward and saw them dancing, hand
in hand around the charmed tree, which bent under
its golden fruit ; and round the tree-foot was coiled
the dragon, old Ladon the sleepless snake, who lies
there for ever, listening to the song of the maidens,
blinking and watching with dry bright eyes.

Then Perseus stopped, not because he feared the
dragon, but because he was bashful before those fair
maids ; but when they saw him, they too stopped,
and called to him with trembling voices —

' Who are you ? Are you Heracles the mighty,

I-AKT in PERSEUS 29

\vhtt will come to rob our garden, ami carry off' our
golden fruit?' And he answered-

' I am not Heracles the mighty, and I want none
of your golden fruit. Tell me, fair Nymphs, the
way which leads to the Gorgon, that I may go on
my way and slay her.'

'Not yet, not yet, fair boy; come dance with us
around the tree in the garden which knows no
winter, the home of the south wind and the sun.
Come hither and play with us awhile ; we have
danced alone here for a thousand years, and our
hearts are weary with longing for a playfellow. So
come, come, come !'

' I cannot dance with you, fair maidens ; for I
must do the errand of the Immortals. So tell me
the way to the Gorgon, lest I wander and perish in
the waves.'

Then they sighed and wept ; and answered—

' The Gorgon ! she will freeze you into stone.'

' It is better to die like a hero than to live like
an ox in a stall. The Immortals have lent me
weapons, and they will give me wit to use them.'

Then they sighed again and answered, ' Fair
boy, if you are bent on your own ruin, be it so.
We know not the way to the Gorgon ; but we will
ask the giant Atlas, above upon the mountain peak,

30 THE HEROES STORY i

the brother of our father, the silver Evening Star.
He sits aloft and sees across the ocean, and far away
into the Unshapen Land.'

So they went up the mountain to Atlas their
uncle, and Perseus went up with them. And they
found the giant kneeling, as he held the heavens
and the earth apart.

They asked him, and he answered mildly, pointing
to the sea-board with his mighty hand, ' I can see
the Gorgons lying on an island far away, but this
youth can never come near them, unless he has the
hat of darkness, which whosoever wears cannot be
seen.'

Then cried Perseus, ' Where is that hat, that I
may find it ? '

But the giant smiled. ' No living mortal can
find that hat, for it lies in the depths of Hades, in
the regions of the dead. But my nieces are im-
mortal, and they shall fetch it for you, if you will
promise me one thing and keep your faith.'

Then Perseus promised ; and the giant said,
' When you come back with the head of Medusa,
you shall show me the beautiful horror, that I may
lose my feeling and my breathing, and become a
stone for ever ; for it is weary labour for me to hold
the heavens and the earth apart.'

UT in PERSEUS 31

Then Perseus promised, and the eldest of the
Nymph- went down, and into a dark cavern among
tin- cliffs, out of which came smoke and thunder, for
it was one of the mouths of Hell.

And Perseus and the Nymphs sat down seven
days, and waited trembling, till the Nymph came up
a^ain ; and her face was pale, and her eyes dazzled
with tin1 light, for she had been long in the
dreary darkness ; but in her hand was the magic
hat.

Then all the Nymphs kissed Perseus, and wept
over him a long while ; but he was only impatient
to be gone. And at last they put the hat upon his
head, and he vanished out of their sight.

But Perseus went on boldly, past many an ugly
sight, far away into the heart of the Uushapen Land,
beyond the streams of Ocean, to the isles where no
ship cruises, where is neither night nor day, where
nothing is in its right place, and nothing has a
name ; till he heard the rustle of the Gorgons' wings
and saw the glitter of their brazen talons ; and then
he knew that it was time to halt, lest Medusa
should freeze him into stone.

He thought awhile with himself, and remembered
Athene's words. He rose aloft into the air, and
held the mirror of the shield above his head, and

32 THE HEROES STORY i

looked up into it that he might see all that was
below him.

And he saw the three Gorgous sleeping, as huge
as elephants. He knew that they could not see
him, because the hat of darkness hid him; and yet
he trembled as he sank down near them, so terrible
were those brazen claws.

Two of the Gorgons were foul as swine, and lay
sleeping heavily, as swine sleep, with their mighty
wings outspread ; but Medusa tossed to and fro
restlessly, and as she tossed Perseus pitied her, she
looked so fair and sad. Her plumage was like the
rainbow, and her face was like the face of a nymph,
only her eyebrows were knit, and her lips clenched,
with everlasting care and pain ; and her long neck
gleamed so white in the mirror that Perseus had
not the heart to strike, and said, ' Ah, that it had
been either of her sisters ! '

But as he looked, from among her tresses the
vipers' heads awoke, and peeped up with their bright
dry eyes, and showed their fangs, and hissed ; and
Medusa, as she tossed, threw back her wings and
showed her brazen claws ; and Perseus saw that,
for all her beauty, she was as foul and venomous as
the rest.

Then he came down and stepped to her boldly,

PART in 1'KKSEUS 33

and looked steadfastly on his mirror, and .struck
with Harpe stoutly once; and he did not need to
strike again.

Thm he wrapped the head in the gnat-skin,
turning away his eyes, and sprang into the air aloft,
fa-ter than he ever sprang In -fore.

For Medusa's wings and talons rattled as she
sank dead upon the rocks; and her two foul sisters
woke, and saw her lying dead.

Into the air they sprang yelling, and looked for
him who had done the deed. Thrice they swung
round and round, like hawks who heat for a
partridge; and thrice they snuffed round and round,
like hounds who draw upon a deer. At last they
struck upon the scent of the blood, and they checked
for a moment to make sure ; and then on they
rushed with a fearful howl, while the wind rattled
hoarse in their wings.

On they rushed, sweeping and Happing, like
eagles after a hare; and Perseus' blood ran cold, for
all his courage, as he saw them come howling on
his traek ; and he cried, 'Bear me well now, brave
sandals, for the hounds of Death are, at my heels !'

And well the brave sandals bun- him, aloft,
through cloud and sunshine, across the shoreless

sea; and fast followed the hounds of Death, as the

D

34 THE HEROES STORY i

roar of their wings came clown the wind. But the
roar came clown fainter and fainter, and the howl of
their voices died away; for the sandals were too
swift, even for Gorgons, and by nightfall they were
far behind, two black specks in the southern sky,
till the sun sank and he saw them no more.

Then lie came again to Atlas, and the garden of
the Nymphs ; and when the giant heard him coming,
he groaned, and said, ' Fulfil thy promise to me.'
Then Perseus held up to him the Gorgon's head,
and he had rest from all his toil ; for he became a
crag of stone, which sleeps for ever far above the
clouds.

Then he thanked the Nymphs, and asked them,
' By what road shall I go homeward again, for I
wandered far round in coming hither ? '

And they wept and cried, ' Go home no more,
but stay and play with us, the lonely maidens, who
dwell for ever far away from Gods and men.'

But he refused, and they told him his road, and
said, ' Take with you this magic fruit, which, if you
eat once, you will not hunger for seven days. For
you must go eastward and eastward ever, over the
doleful Libyan shore, which Poseidon gave to Father
Zeus, when he burst open the Bosporus and the
Hellespont, and drowned the fair Lectonian land.

PAET in PERSEUS 35

And Zeus took that land in cxchangi-, ;i lair hargain,
mueh had ground for a little good, and to this day
it lies waste and desert, with shingle, and rock, and
sand.'

Then tlu-y kissed Terseus, and wept over him,
and he leapt down the mountain, and went on,
lessening and lessening like a sea-gull, away and out
to sea.

PAET IV

HOW PERSEUS CAME TO THE ^ETHIOPS

So Perseus flitted onward to the north-east, over
many a league of sea, till he came to the rolling
sand-hills and the dreary Libyan shore.

And he flitted on across the desert : over rock-
ledges, and banks of shingle, and level wastes of
sand, and shell-drifts bleaching in the sunshine, and
the skeletons of great sea-monsters, and dead bones
of ancient giants, strewn up and down upon the old
sea-floor. And as he went the blood-drops fell to
the earth from the Gorgon's head, and became
poisonous asps and adders, which breed in the desert
to this day.

Over the sands he went, — he never knew how
far or how long, feeding on the fruit which the
Nymphs had given him, till he saw the hills of the
Psylli, and the Dwarfs who fought with cranes.
Their spears were of reeds and rushes, and their

I-.VKT iv 1T.KSKUS 37

houses df the egg-shells of the cranes; and iVrsciis
laughed, and went his way to the north-east, hoping
all day limn' to seethe lilne Mediterranean sparkling,
that he nii^lit fly across it to his home.

I'.nt now came down a mighty wind, and swept
him hack southward toward the desert. All day
long he strove against it ; but even the winded
sandals could not prevail. So he was forced to
float down the wind all night; and when the morn-
ing dawned there was nothing to l>e seen, save the
same old hateful waste of .sand.

And out of the north the sandstorms rushed upon
him, lilood-red pillars and wreaths, blotting out the
noonday sun ; and Perseus fled before them, lest he
should be choked by the burning dust. At last the
gale fell calm, and he tried to go northward again ;
but a^ain came down the sandstorms, and swept
him back into the waste, and then all was calm and
cloudless as before. Seven days he strove against
the storms, and seven days he was driven back, till
he was spent with thirst and hunger, and his tongue
clove to the roof of his mouth. Here and there he
fancied that he saw a fair lake, and the sunbeams
shining on the water; but when he came to it it
vanished at his feet, and there was nought but
burning sand. And if he had not been of the race

38 THE HEROES STOUY I

of the Immortals, lie would have perished in the
waste ; but his life was strong within him, because
it was more than man's.

Then he cried to Athene, and said—

' Oh, fair and pure, if tliou hearest me, wilt thou
leave me here to die of drought ? I have brought

O O

thee the Gorgon's head at thy bidding, and hitherto
thou hast prospered my journey ; dost thou desert
me at the last ? Else why will not these immortal
sandals prevail, even against the desert storms ?
Shall I never see my mother more, and the blue
ripple round Seriphos, and the sunny hills of
Hellas?'

So he prayed ; and after he had prayed there
was a great silence.

The heaven was still above his head, and the
sand was still beneath his feet ; and Perseus looked
up, but there was nothing but the blinding sun in
the blinding blue ; and round him, but there was
nothing but the blinding sand.

And Perseus stood still a while, and waited, and
said, ' Surely I am not here without the will of the
Immortals, for Athene will not lie. Were not these
sandals to lead me in the right road ? Then the
road in which I have tried to go must be a wrong
road.'

PART IV IT.KSKUS 39

Then suddenly his e;irs were opened, and he
heard the souud of running water.

And at that his heart was lifted up, though he

•ively dare believe his ears; and weary as he was,
lie hurried forward, though he could scarcely stand
upright; and within a bowshot of him was a glen
in the sand, and marble rocks, and date-trees, and a
lawn of gay green grass. And through the lawn
a streamlet sparkled and wandered out beyond the
trers, and vanished in the sand.

The water trickled among the rocks, and a
pleasant breeze rustled in the dry date-branches ;
and Perseus laughed for joy, and leapt down the
cliff, and drank of the cool water, and ate of the
dates, and slept upon the turf, and leapt up and
went forward again : but not toward the north this
time; for he said, 'Surely Athene hath sent me
hither, and will not have me go homeward yet.
"What if there be another noble deed to be done,
before I see the sunny hills of Hellas ?'

So he went east, and east for ever, by fresh oases
and fountains, date-palms, and lawns of grass, till
he saw before him a mighty mountain-wall, all rose-
red iu the setting sun.

Then he towered in the air like an eagle, for his
limbs were strong again ; and he flew all night across

40 THE HEROES STOKY i

the mountain till the day began to dawn, and rosy-
fingered Eos came blushing up the sky. And then,
behold, beneath him was the long green garden of
Egypt and the shining stream of Nile.

And he saw cities walled up to heaven, and
temples, and obelisks, and pyramids, and giant Gods
of stone. And he came down amid fields of barley,
and flax, and millet, and clambering gourds ; and
saw the people coming out of the gates of a great
city, and setting to work, each in his place, among
the water-courses, parting the streams among the
plants cunningly with their feet, according to the
wisdom of the Egyptians. But when they saw him
they all stopped their work, and gathered round
him, and cried—

' "\Vlio art thou, fair youth ? and what bearest
thou beneath thy goat-skin there ? Surely thou art
one of the Immortals ; for thy skin is white like
ivory, and ours is red like clay. Thy hair is like
threads of gold, and ours is black and curled. Surely
thou art one of the Immortals ;' and they would
have worshipped him then and there ; but Perseus
said—

' I am not one of the Immortals ; but I am a
hero of the Hellens. And I have slain the Gorgon
in the wilderness, and bear her head with me. Give

PART IV IT.IISKIJS 41

me food, therefore, tluit I may go forward and finish
niv work.'

i/

Then they i^ave him food, and fruit, and wine;
lmt they would not let him go. And when the
news eame into the city that the (lorgon was slain,
t lie priests eame out to meet liim, and the maidens,
with songs and dances, and timbrels and harps;
and they would have brought him to their temple
and to their king; but Perseus put on the hat of
darkness, and vanished away out of their sight.

Therefore the Egyptians looked long for his
return, but in vain, and worshipped him as a hero,
and made a statue of him in Chemmis, which stood
for many a hundred years ; and they said that he
appeared to them at times, with sandals a cubit
long ; and that whenever he appeared the season
was fruitful, and the Xile rose high that year.

Then Perseus went to the eastward, along the
Eed Sea shore ; and then, because he was afraid to
go into the Arabian deserts, he turned northward
once more, and this time no storm hindered him.

He went past the Isthmus, and Mount ( 'asius,
and the vast Sirbonian bog, and up the shore of
Palestine, where the dark-faced .Kthiops dwelt,

He Hew on past pleasant hills and valleys, like
Argos itself, or Lacedojmon, or the lair Yale of

42 THE HEROES STORY i

Tempe. But the lowlands were all drowned by
floods, and the highlands blasted by fire, and the
hills heaved like a bubbling cauldron, before the
wrath of King Poseidon, the shaker of the earth.

And Perseus feared to go inland, but flew along
the shore above the sea ; and he went on all the
day, and the sky was black with smoke ; and he
went on all the night, and the sky was red with flame.

And at the dawn of day lie looked toward the
cliffs ; and at the water's edge, under a black rock,
he saw a white image stand.

' This,' thought he, ' must surely be the statue of
some sea-God ; I will go near and see what kind of
Gpds these barbarians worship.'

So he came near; but when he came, it was no
statue, but a maiden of flesh and blood ; for he
could see her tresses streaming in the breeze ; and
as he came closer still, he could see how she shrank
and shivered when the waves sprinkled her with
cold salt spray. Her arms were spread above her
head, and fastened to the rock with chains of brass ;
and her head drooped on her bosom, either with
sleep, or weariness, or grief. But now and then
she looked up and wailed, and called her mother;
yet she did not see Perseus, for the cap of dark-
ness was on his head.

TAUT IV

1'KKSF.rs

43

Full of pity and indignation, Perseus drew near
and looked upon the maid. Her cheeks were darker

than his were, and her hair was blue-black like ;i
hyacinth ; but Perseus thought, '1 have never seen

44 THE HEROES STORY i

so beautiful a maiden; no, not in all our isles.
Surely she is a king's daughter. Do barbarians
treat their kings' daughters thus ? She is too fair, at
least, to have done any wrong. I will speak to her.'

And, lifting the hat from his head, he flashed
into her sight. She shrieked with terror, and tried
to hide her face with her hair, for she could not
with her hands ; but Perseus cried—

' Do not fear me, fair one ; I am a Hellen, and
no barbarian. What cruel men have bound you ?
But first I will set you free.'

And he tore at the fetters, but they were too
strong for him ; while the maiden cried—

' Touch me not ; I am accursed, devoted as a
victim to the sea-Gods. They will slay you, if you
dare to set me free.'

'Let them try/ said Perseus; and drawing Harpe
from his thigh, he cut through the brass as if it had
been flax.

' Now/ he said, ' you belong to me, and not to
these sea-Gods, whosoever they may be ! ' But she
only called the more on her mother.

' Why call on your mother ? She can be no
mother to have left you here. If a bird is dropped
out of the nest, it belongs to the man who picks it
up. If a jewel is cast by the wayside, it is his who

PART iv 1'KKSKUS 45

ii;i re win it and wear it, as I will win you and will
wear von. I know now why 1'allus Athene sent

«/ v

me hither. She sent me to gain a pri/e worth all
niv toil and more.'

And he clasped her ill his arms, and cried,
'Where are these sea-Gods, cruel and unjust, who
doom fair maids to death ( \ carry the weapons of
Immortals. Let them measure their strength against
mine ! ]>ut tell me, maiden, who you are, and what
dark late brought you here.'

And she answered, weeping—

' I am tin? daughter of Cepheus, King of lopa,
and my mother is Cassiopeia of the beautiful tresses,
and they called me Andromeda, as long as life was
mine. And I stand bound here, hapless that I am,
for the sea-monster's food, to atone for my mother's
sin. For she boasted of me once that I was fairer
than Atergatis, Hueen of the Fishes; so she in her
\\rath sent the sea-floods, and her brother the Fire
King sent the earthquakes, and wasted all the land,
and after the floods a monster bred of the slime
who devours all living things. And now he must
devour me, guiltless though I am — me who never
harmed a living thing, nor saw a lisli upon the shore
but [ gave it life, and threw it back into the sea;
for ill our land we eat no fish, for fear of Atergatis

46 THE HEROES STORY i

their queen. Yet the priests say that nothing but
my blood can atone for a sin which I never com-
mitted.'

But Perseus laughed, and said, ' A sea-monster ?
I have fought with worse than him : I would have
faced Immortals for your sake ; how much more a
beast of the sea ?'

Then Andromeda looked up at him, and new hope
was kindled in her breast, so proud aud fair did he
stand, with one hand round her, and in the other
the glittering sword. But she only sighed, and
wept the more, and cried—

' Why will you die, young as you are ? Is there
not death and sorrow enough in the world already ?
It is noble for me to die, that I may save the lives
of a wrhole people ; but you, better than them all,
why should I slay you too ? Go you your way ; I
must go mine.'

But Perseus cried, ' Not so ; for the Lords of
Olympus, whom I serve, are the friends of the
heroes, and help them on to noble deeds. Led by
them, I slew the Gorgon, the beautiful horror ; and
not without them do I come hither, to slay this
monster with that same Gorgon's head. Yet hide
your eyes when I leave you, lest the sight of it
freeze you too to stone,'

PAKT1V I'KKSKIS 17

ilut the maiden answered nothing, I'm- she could
ii"t believe his words. And then, suddenly looking
up, she pointed to the sen, and shrieked

' There he conies, with the sunrise, as they pro-
mised. I must die now. How shall L endure it?
Oh, go ! Is it not dreadful enough to be torn piece-
meal, without having you to look on?' And she
tried to thrust him away.

But lie said, 'I go; yet promise me one thing
ere I go : that it' I slay this beast you will be my
wife, and come back with me to my kingdom in
fruitful Argos, for I am a king's heir. Promise me,
and seal it with a kiss.'

Then she lifted up her face, and kissed him; and
Perseus laughed for joy, and flew upward, while,
Andromeda crouched trembling on the rock, waiting
for what might befall.

On came the great sea-monster, coasting along
like a huge black galley, lazily breasting the ripple,
and stopping at times by creek or headland to watch
for the laughter of girls at their bleaching, or cattle
pawing on the sand-hills, or boys bathing on the
beach. ]Iis greal sides were, i'rin-ed with clustering
shells and sea-weeds, and the water gurgled in and
out of his wide jaws, as he rolled along, dripping
and glistening in the beams of the morning sun.

48 THE HEROES STORY i

At last he saw Andromeda, and shot forward to
take his prey, while the waves foamed white behind
him, and before him the fish fled leaping.

Then down from the height of the air fell Perseus
like a shooting star ; down to the crests of the
waves, while Andromeda hid her face as he shouted ;
and then there was silence for a while.

At last she looked up trembling, and saw Perseus
springing toward her ; and instead of the monster a
long black rock, with the sea rippling quietly round
it.

Who then so proud as Perseus, as he leapt back
to the rock, and lifted his fair Andromeda in his
arms, and flew with her to the cliff-top, as a falcon
carries a clove ?

Who so proud as Perseus, and who so joyful as
all the ^Ethiop people ? For they had stood watch-
ing the monster from the cliffs, wailing for the
maiden's fate. And already a messenger had gone
to Cepheus and Cassiopeia, where they sat in
sackcloth and ashes on the ground, in the innermost
palace chambers, awaiting their daughter's end.
And they came, and all the city with them, to see
the wonder, with songs and with dances, with
cymbals and harps, and received their daughter back
again, as one alive from the dead.

PART iv I'KRSEUS 49

Then Cepheus said, ' Hero of the Hellens, stay
here with me and he my son-in-law, and I will give
you the halt' of my kingdom.'

' I will he your son-in-law,' said Perseus, ' but
of your kingdom I will have none, for I long after
the pleasant land of Greece, and my mother who
waits for me at home.'

Thou Cepheus said, 'You must not take my
daughter away at once, for she is to us like one
alive from the dead. Stay with us here a year,
and after that you shall return with honour.' And
Perseus consented ; hut hefore he went to the palace
he bade the people bring stones and wood, and built
three altars, one to Athene, and one to Hermes, and
one to Father Zeus, and offered bullocks and rams.

And some said, ' This is a pious man ; ' yet the
priests said, ' The Sea Queen will he yet more fierce
against us, because her monster is slain.' But they

O '

were afraid to speak aloud, for they feared the
Gorgon's head. So they went up to the palace ;
and when they came in, there stood in the hall
1'hineus, the brother of Cepheus, chafing like a bear
robbed of her whelps, and with him his sons, and
his servants, and many an armed man ; and he cried
to Cepheus—

'You shall not marry your daughter to this

50 THE HEROES STORY i

stranger, of whom no one knows even the name.
Was not Andromeda betrothed to my son ? And
now she is safe again, has he not a right to claim her?'

But Perseus laughed, and answered, ' If your son
is in want of a bride, let him save a maiden for
himself. As yet he seems but a helpless bride-
groom. He left this one to die, and dead she is to
him. I saved her alive, and alive she is to me, but
to no one else. Ungrateful man ! have I not saved
your land, and the lives of your sons and daughters,
and will you requite me thus ? Go, or it will be
worse for yon.' But all the men-at-arms drew
their swords, and rushed on him like wild beasts.

Then he unveiled the Gorgon's head, and said,
' This has delivered my bride from one wild beast :
it shall deliver her from many.' And as he spoke
Phineus and all his men-at-arms stopped short, and
stiffened each man as he stood ; and before Perseus
had drawn the goat-skin over the face again, they
were all turned into stone.

Then Perseus bade the people bring levers and
roll them out ; and what was done with them after
that I cannot tell.

So they made a great wedding-feast, which lasted
seven whole days, and who so happy as Perseus
and Andromeda ?

PART iv PKRSEUS 51

I'.ut mi tin- eighth night Perseus dreamed a
dream; and lie saw standing beside him Pallas
Athene, as he had seen her in Seriphos, seven long
years before ; and she stood and called him by
name, and said —

' Perseus, you have played the man, and see, you
have your reward. Know now that the Gods are
just, and help him who helps himself. Now give
me here Harpe the sword, and the sandals, and the
hat of darkness, that I may give them back to their
owners ; but the Gorgon's head you shall keep a
while, for you will need it in your land of Greece.
Then you shall lay it up in my temple at Seriphos,
that I may wear it on my shield for ever, a terror
to the Titans and the monsters, and the foes of Gods
and men. And as for this land, I have appeased
the sea and the fire, and there shall be no more
floods m»r earthquakes. But let the people build
altars to Father Zeus, and to me, and worship the
Immortals, the Lords of heaven and earth.'

And Perseus rose to give her the sword, and the
cap, and the sandals; but he woke, and his dream
vanished away. And yet it was not altogether a
dream ; for the goat-skin with the head was in its
place; but the sword, and the cap, and the sandals
were gone, and Perseus never saw them more.

52 THE HEROES STORY i

Then a great awe fell on Perseus ; and he went
out in the morning to the people, and told his dream,
and bade them build altars to Zeus, the Father of
Gods and men, and to Athene, who gives wisdom
to heroes ; and fear no more the earthquakes and the
floods, but sow and build in peace. And they did
so for a while, and prospered ; but after Perseus was
gone they forgot Zeus and Athene, and worshipped
again Atergatis the queen, and the undying fish of
the sacred lake, where Deucalion's deluge was
swallowed up, and they burnt their children before
the Fire King, till Zeus was angry with that foolish
people, and brought a strange nation against them
out of Egypt, who fought against them and wasted
them utterly, and dwelt in their cities for many a
hundred years.

PART V

HOW PERSEUS CAMK HOME AGAIN

AND when a year was ended Perseus hired Phoenicians
from Tyre, and cut down cedars, and Imilt himself a
noble galley ; and painted its cheeks with vermilion,
and pitched its sides with pitch ; and in it he put
Andromeda, and all her dowry of jewels, and rich
shawls, and spices from the East ; and great was
the wee] ling when they rowed away. But the
ivme-ml trance of his brave deed was left behind ;
;ind Andromeda's rock was shown at lopa in
Palestine till more than a thousand years were
past.

So Perseus and the Phoenicians rowed to the
westward, across the sea of Crete, till they came to
the blue J\gean and the pleasant Isles of Hellas,
and Seriphos, his ancient home.

Then he left his galley on the beach, and went
up as of old ; and he embraced his mother, and

54 THE HEROES STORY i

Dictys his good foster-father, and they wept over
each other a long while, for it was seven years and
more since they had met.

Then Perseus went out, and up to the hall of
Polydectes ; and underneath the goat-skin he bore
the Gorgon's head.

And when he came into the hall, Polydectes sat
at the table-head, and all his nobles and landowners
on either side, each according to his rank, feasting
on the fish and the goat's flesh, and drinking the
blood -red wine. The harpers harped, and the
revellers shouted, and the wine-cups rang merrily as
they passed from hand to hand, and great was the
noise in the hall of Polydectes.

Then Perseus stood upon the threshold, and called
to the king by name. But none of the guests knew
Perseus, for he was changed by his long journey.
He had gone out a boy, and he was come home a
hero; his eye shone like an eagle's, and his beard
was like a lion's beard, and he stood up like a wild
bull in his pride.

But Polydectes the wicked knew him, and hard-
ened his heart still more ; and scornfully he called—

' Ah, foundling ! have you found it more easy to
promise than to fulfil ? '

' Those whom the Gods help fulfil their promises ;

PART v TERSEUS

iind those who despise them, reap as they have sown.

Px'hold tlie Gorgon's head ! '

Then Perseus drew back the goat-skin, and held

aloft the (lorgon's head.

rale grew Polydectes and his guests as they

looked upon that dreadful face. They tried to rise

up from their seats : but from their seats they never

rose, but stiffened, each man where he sat, into a

ring of eold gray stones.

Then Perseus turned and left them, and went

down to his galley in the bay; and he gave the

kingdom to good Dictys, and sailed away with his

mother and his bride.

And Polydectes and his guests sat still, with the
wine-cups before them on the board, till the rafters
crumbled down above their heads, and the walls
behind their lacks, and the table crumbled down
between them, and the gra-s sprung up about their
feet : but Polydectes and his guests sit on the hill-
side, a ring of gray stones until this day.

I'.ut Perseus rowed westward toward Argos, and
landed, and went up to the town. And when he
came, he found that Aeiisius his grandfather had
lied. K"r I'netus his wicked brother had made war
against him afresh ; and had come across the river
from Tiryns, and conquered Argos, and Acrisius

56 THE HEROES STORY i

had fled to Larissa, in the country of the wild
Pelasgi.

Then Perseus called the Argives together, and told
them who he was, and all the noble deeds which
he had done. And all the nobles and the yeomen
made him king, for they saw that he had a royal
heart ; and they fought with him against Argos, and
took it, and killed Proetus, and made the Cyclopes
serve them, and build them walls round Argos, like
the walls which they had built at Tiryns ; and there
were great rejoicings in the vale of Argos, because
they had got a king from Father Zeus.

But Perseus' heart yearned after his grandfather,
and he said, ' Surely he is my flesh and blood, and
he will love me now that I am come home with
honour : I will go and find him, and bring him
home, and we will reign together in peace.'

So Perseus sailed away with his Phoenicians,
round Hydrea and Sunium, past Marathon and the
Attic shore, and through Euripus, and up the long
Euboean sea, till he came to the town of Larissa,
where the wild Pelasgi dwelt.

And when he came there, all the people were in
the fields, and there was feasting, and all kinds of
games ,s for Teutamenes their king wished to honour
Acrisius, because he was the king of a mighty land.

PARTY 1'KRSKrs 57

So Perseus did not tell his name, but went up to
the games unknown; for he said, 'If I carry away
the prize in the games, my grandfather's In-art will
be softened toward me.'

So lie threw oil' his helmet, and his cuirass, and
all his clothes, and stood among the youths of Lar-
issa, while all wondered at him, and said, ' "Who is
this young stranger, who stands like a wild Lull in
his pride ? Surely lie is one of the heroes, the sons
of the Immortals, from Olympus.'

And when the games began, they wondered yet
more ; for Perseus was the best man of all at run-
ning, and leaping, and wrestling, and throwing the
javelin ; and he won four crowns, and took them,
and then he said to himself, ' There is a fifth crown
yet to be won: I will win that, and lay them all
upon the knees of my grandfather.'

And as he spoke, he saw where Acrisius sat, by
the side of Teutamenes the king, with his white
beard flowing down upon his knees, and his royal
staff in his hand ; and Perseus wept when he looked
at him, for his heart yearned after his kin ; and he
said, ' Surely he is a kingly old man, yet he need
not, be ashamed of his grandson.'

Then he took the quoits, and hurled them, five
fathoms beyond all the rest ; and the people shouted,

58 THE HEROES STORY i

' Further yet, brave stranger ! There has never
been such a huiier in this land.'

Then Perseus put out all his strength, and hurled.
But a gust of wind came from the sea, and carried
the quoit aside, and far beyond all the rest ; and it
fell on the foot of Acrisius, and he swooned away
with the pain.

Perseus shrieked, and ran up to him ; but when
they lifted the old man up he was dead, for his life
was slow and feeble.

Then Perseus rent his clothes, and cast dust upon
his head, and wept a long while for his grandfather.
At last he rose, and called to all the people aloud,
and said—

' The Gods are true, and what they have ordained
must be. I am Perseus, the grandson of this dead
man, the far-famed slayer of the Gorgon.'

Then he told them how the prophecy had declared
that he should kill his grandfather, and all the story
of his life.

So they made a great mourning for Acrisius, and
burnt him on a right rich pile ; and Perseus went to
the temple, and was purified from the guilt of the
death, because he had done it unknowingly.

Then he went home to Argos, and reigned there
well with fair Andromeda ; and they had four

PART v PERSEUS 59

sons and three daughters, and died in a good
old ag'-.

And when they died, the ancients say, Athene7
took them up into the sky, with Cepheus and Cas-
siopeia. And there on starlight nights you may
see them shining still ; Cepheus with his kingly
crown, and Cassiopeia in her ivory chair, plaiting
her star-spangled tresses, and Perseus witli the
Gorgon's head, and fair Andromeda beside him,
spreading her long white arms across the heaven, as
she stood when chained to the stone for the monster.
All night long they shine, for a beacon to wandering
sailors; but all day they feast with the Gods, on
the still blue peaks of Olympus.

STOKY IL-THE ARGONAUTS

PART I

HOW THE CENTAUR TRAINED THE HEROES ON PELION

I HAVE told you of a hero who fought with wild
beasts and with wild men ; but now I have a tale
of heroes who sailed away into a distant laud, to
win themselves renown for ever, in the adventure
of the Golden Fleece.

Whither they sailed, my children, I cannot clearly
tell. It all happened long ago ; so long that it has
all grown dim, like a dream which you dreamt last
year. And why they went I cannot tell : some say
that it was to win gold. It may be so ; but the
noblest deeds which have been done on earth have
not been done for gold. It was not for the sake of
gold that the Lord came down and died, and the
Apostles went out to preach the good news in all
lands. The Spartans looked for no reward in money

PAJIT I THE ARGONAUTS 61

when they fought and died at Thermopyhe ; and
Socrates the wise asked no pay from his country-
men, but lived poor and barefoot all his days, only
caring to make men good. And there are heroes in
our days also, who do noble deeds, but not for gold.
Our discoverers did not go to make themselves rich
when they sailed out one after another into tin-
dreary frozen seas; nor did the ladies wlm went out
last year to drudge in the hospitals of the East,
making themselves poor, that they might lie rich in
noble works. And young men, too, whom you
know, children, and some of them of your own kin,
did they say to themselves, 'How much money
shall I earn ? ' when they went out to the war,
leaving wealth, and comfort, and a pleasant home,
and all that money can give, to face hunger and
thirst, and wounds and death, that they might fight
for their country and their Queen ? No, children,
there is a better thing on earth than wealth, a better
thing than life itself; and that is, to have done
something before you die, for which good men may
honour you, and God your Father smile upon your
work.

Therefore we will believe — why should we not ?

—of these same Argonauts of old, that they too

were noble men, who planned ami did a noble deed ;

62 THE HEROES STORY n

and that therefore their fame has lived, and been
told in story and in song, mixed up, no doubt, with
dreams and fables, and yet true and right at heart.
So we will honour these old Argonauts, and listen
to their story as it stands ; and we will try to be
like them, each of us in our place ; for each of us
has a Golden Fleece to seek, and a wild sea to sail
over ere we reach it, and dragons to fight ere it be
ours.

And what was that first Golden Fleece ? I do
not know, nor care. The old Hellens said that it
hung in Colchis, which we call the Circassian coast,
nailed to a beech-tree in the Avar-God's wood ; and
that it was the fleece of the wondrous ram who
bore Phrixus and Helle across the Euxine sea. For
Phrixus and Helle were the children of the cloud-
nymph, and of Athamas the Minuan king. And
when a famine came upon the land, their cruel step-
mother Ino wished to kill them, that her own
children might reign, and said that they must be
sacrificed on an altar, to turn away the anger of the
Gods. So the poor children were brought to the
altar, and the priest stood ready with his knife, when
out of the clouds came the Golden Ram, and took
them on his back, and vanished. Then madness

I-AIJT I THE ARGONAUTS 63

came upon that foolish king, Athamas, and ruin
upon Tno and licr children. For Atharnas killed
one of them in his fury, and Ino fled from him with
the other in her arms, and leaped from a cliff into
the sea, and was changed into a dolphin, such as
you have seen, which wanders over the waves for
ever sighing, with its little one clasped to its breast.
r»ut the people drove out King Athamas, because
he had killed his child ; and he roamed about in his
misery, till he came to the Oracle in Delphi. And
the Oracle told him that he must wander for his
sin, till the wild beasts should feast him as their
•niest. So he went on in hunger and sorrow for

O O

many a weary day, till he saw a pack of wolves.
The wolves were tearing a sheep ; but when they
saw Athamas they fled, and left the sheep for him,
and he ate of it ; and then he knew that the oracle
'was fullilled at last. So he wandered no more; but
settled, and built a town, and became a king again.

But the ram carried the two children far away
over land and sea, till he came to the Thracian
Chersonese, and there Helle fell into the sea. So
those narrow straits are called ' Hellespont,' after
her; and they bear that name until this day.

Then the ram flew on with I'lirixus to the north-
east across the sea which we call the Black Sea

64 THE HEROES STORY n

now ; but the Hellens call it Euxine. And at last,
they say, he stopped at Colchis, on the steep Cir-
cassian coast ; and there Phrixus married Chalciope,
the daughter of Aietes the king ; and offered the
ram in sacrifice ; and Aietes nailed the ram's fleece
to a beech, in the grove of Ares the war-God.

And after awhile Phrixus died, and was buried,
but his spirit had no rest ; for he was buried far
from his native land, and the pleasant hills of
Hellas. So he came in dreams to the heroes of the
Minuai, and called sadly by their beds, ' Come and
set my spirit free, that I may go home to my fathers
and to my kinsfolk, and the pleasant Minuan land.'

And they asked, ' How shall we set your spirit
free ? '

' You must sail over the sea to Colchis, and
bring home the golden fleece ; and then my spirit
will come back with it, and I shall sleep with my
fathers and have rest.'

He came thus, and called to them often ; but
when they woke they looked at each other, and said,
' Who dare sail to Colchis, or bring home the
golden fleece ? ' And in all the country none was
brave enough to try it ; for the man and the time
were not come.

Phrixus had a cousin called ^son, who was king

PART i THI: Ai;<;oN.\rTs 65

in loleos liy the sea. There he ruled over the rich
.Minium heroes, as Athamas his uncle ruled in
r.u'otia; and, like Athamas, he was an unhappy
man. Tor he had a step-brother named Pelias, of
whom some said that he was a nymph's son, and
there were dark and sad tales about his birth.
When he was a babe he was cast out on the moun-
tains, and a wild mare came by and kicked him.
Hut a shepherd passing found the baity, with its i'a<-e
all blackened by the blow; and took him home, and
railed him 1'elias, because his face was bruised and
black. And he grew up fierce and lawless, and did
many a fearful deed ; and at last he drove out YEson
his step-brother, and then his own brother Xeleus,
and took the kingdom to himself, and ruled over the
rich Minium heroes, in loleos by the sea.

And Jvsnii, when lie wa.s driven out, went sadly
away out of the town, leading his little son by the
hand ; and he said to himself, ' I mu>t hide the
child in the mountains; or I'elias will surely kill
him, because he is the heir.'

So he went up from the sea across the valley.
through the vineyards and the olive groves, and
across the torrent of Anaiiros, toward Pelion the
ancient mountain, who<e, brows are white with snow.

He went up and up into the mountain, over

F

66 THE HEROES STORY n

marsh, and crag, and down, till the boy was tired
and footsore, and /Eson had to bear him in his
arms, till he came to the mouth of a lonely cave, at
the foot of a mighty cliff'.

Above the cliff' the snow-wreaths hung, dripping
and cracking in the sun ; but at its foot around the
cave's mouth grew all fair flowers and herbs, as if
in a garden, ranged in order, each sort by itself.
There they grew gaily in the sunshine, and the
spray of the torrent from above ; while from the
cave came the sound of music, and a man's voice
singing to the harp.

Then ^Eson put down the lad, and whispered—
' Fear not, but go in, and whomsoever you shall
find, lay your hands upon his knees, and say, " In
the name of Zeus, the father of Gods and men, I
am your guest from this day forth."

Then the lad went in without trembling, for he
too was a hero's son ; but when he was within, he
stopped in wonder to listen to that magic song.

And there he saw the singer lying upon bear-
skins and fragrant boughs : Cheiron, the ancient
centaur, the wisest of all things beneath the sky.
Down to the waist he was a man, but below he
was a noble horse ; his white hair rolled down over
his broad shoulders, and his white beard over his

PART i Till'. ARGONAUTS U7

Ill-nail brown dies! : ;iinl his eyes Were wise and

mild, and hi> forehead like a mountain-wall.

And in liis hands lie held a harp of gold, and
struck it with a golden kev : and as he struck, he

O v '

>ang till his eyes glittered, and Idled all the cave
with light.

And he sail- of the hirth of Time, and of the
heavens and the dancing stars ; and of the ocean,
and the ether, and the fire, and the shaping of the
wondrous earth. And he sang of the treasures of
the hills, and the hidden jewels of the mine, and
the veins of tire and metal, and the virtues of all
healing herbs, and of the speech of birds, and of
prophecy, and of hidden things to come.

Then he sang of health, and strength, and man-
hood, and a valiant heart ; and of music, and hunting,
ami wrestling, and all the games which heroes love;
and of travel, and wars, and sieges, and a noble
death in light ; and then he sang of peace and
plenty, and of eipial justice in the land ; and as he
sang the boy listened wide-eyed, and forgot his
errand in the song.

And at the last old ('heiron was silent, and called
the lad with a soft voiee.

And the lad ran trembling \» him, and would
have laid his hands upon his knees ; but Cheiron

68 THE HEROES STOKY n

smiled, and said, ' Call hither your father ^Eson, for
I know you, and all that has befallen, and saw you
both afar in the valley, even before you left the
town.'

Then ^Eson came in sadly, and Cheiron asked
him, ' Why earnest you not yourself to me, ^Eson
the ^olid ? '

And JEson said—

1 1 thought, Cheiron will pity the lad if he sees
him come alone ; and I wished to try whether he
was fearless, and dare venture like a hero's son.
But now I entreat you by Father Zeus, let the boy
be your guest till better times, and train him among
the sons of the heroes, that he may avenge his
father's house.'

Then Cheiroii smiled, and drew the lad to him,
and laid his hand upon his golden locks, and said,
' Are you afraid of my horse's hoofs, fair boy, or
will you be my pupil from this day ? '

' I would gladly have horse's hoofs like you, if I
could sing such songs as yours.'

And Cheiron laughed, and said, ' Sit here by me
till sundown, when your playfellows will come home,
and you shall learn like them to be a king, worthy
to rule over gallant men.'

Then he turned to JEson, and said, ' Go back in

I-AKT i TIIK AKCUNAITS .;;.

peart-, and licud before the storm like a prudent
man. This boy shall not cross the Anauros again,
till he has become a Ljlory to you and to the house
of ."K<>1 us.'

And /Kson wept over his son and went away :
but the boy did not weep, so full was his fancy <>t'
that strange cave, and the centaur, and his song,
and the playfellows whom he was to see.

Then Cheiron put the lyre into his hands, and
taught him how to play it, till the sun sank low
behind the cliff, and a shout was heard outside.

And then in came the sons of the heroes, ^Eneas,
and Heracles, and I'eleus, and many another mighty
name.

And great Cheiron leapt up joyfully, and his hoofs
made the cave resound, as they shouted, ' Come out,
Father ( 'he-iron ; come out and see our game.'
And one cried, '1 have killed two deer;' and
another, 'I took a wild cat among the crags;' and
Heracles dragged a wild goat after him by its horns,
for he was as huge as a mountain crag; and C;eneus
rallied a bear -cub under each arm, and laughed
when they scratched and bit, for neither tooth nor
steel could wound him.

And Cheiron praised them all, each according to
his deserts.

STORY II

70 THE HEROES

Only one walked apart and silent, Asklepios, the
too- wise child, with his bosom full of herbs and

flowers, and round his wrist a spotted snake ; he
came with downcast eyes to Cheiron, and whispered

PART i TIIK ARGONAUTS 71

hu\v lie luul watched tin- snake caM its old skin, and
-TO\V vouii'4' ai;aiii before his eves, ami how lie had

O «/

gone down into a villain1 in the vale, and cured a
<lvii)'r man \vitli a herb which lie had seen a sick

\/ O

iioat rat.

And ( 'heiroit smiled, and said, 'To each Athene
and Apollo give some gift, and each is worthy in
his jilaee ; Imt to this child they have given an
honour beyond all honours, to cure while others kill/

Then the lads brought in wood, and split it, and
lighted a hla/ing tire; and others skinned the deer
and quartered them, and set them to roast before
the tire; and while the venison was cooking they
bathed in the sno\v-torrent, and washed away the
dust and sweat.

And then all ate till they could eat no more (for
they had tasted nothing since the dawn), and drank
of the clear spring water, for wine is not lit for
-rowing lads. And when the remnants were put
away, they all lay down upon the skins and leaves
about the lire, and each took the lyre in turn, and
sang and played with all his heart.

And after a while they all went out to a plot of
grass at the cave's mouth, and there, they boxed,
and ran, and wrestled, and lauidied till the stones
fell from the cl ill's.

72 THE HEROES STORY n

Theii Cheiron took his lyre, and all the lads
joined hands ; and as he played, they danced to his
measure, in and out, and round and round. There
they danced hand in hand, till the night fell over
land and sea, while the black glen shone with their
broad white limbs and the gleam of their golden
hair.

And the lad danced with them, delighted, and
then slept a wholesome sleep, upon fragrant leaves
of bay, and myrtle, and marjoram, and flowers of
thvme ; and rose at the dawn, and bathed in the

«/

torrent, and became a schoolfellow to the heroes'
sons, and forgot lolcos, and his father, and all his
former life. But he grew strong, and brave and
cunning, upon the pleasant downs of Pelion, in the
keen hungry mountain air. And he learnt to
wrestle, and to box, and to hunt, and to play upon
the harp ; and next he learnt to ride, for old Cheiron
used to mount him on his back ; and he learnt the
virtues of all herbs, and how to cure all wounds ;
and Cheiron called him Jason the healer, and that
is his name until this day.

PAIIT II

][M\V .IASOX [.OST His SAN HAL IX AXAUROS

Axi> ten years came and went, and Jason was grown
tn lie a mighty man. Sonic <>f his fcllo\vs were
-one, and some were growing up l>y his side.
Asklepios was -one into Peloponnese to work his
wondrous cures on men; and some say lie used to
raise the dead to life. And Heracles was gone to
Thebes to fulfil tlio-e famous labours which have
become a proverb among men. And I'eleus had
married a sea-nymph, and his wedding is famous to
this day. And .Kneas was gone home to Troy, and
many a noble tale you will read of him, and of all
the other gallant heroes, the scholars of Cheiron the
just. And it happened on a day that Jason stood
on the mountain, and looked north and south and
east and west; and ( 'heiron stood by him and
watched him, for he knew that the time was come.
And Jason looked and s-aw the plains of Thessaly,

74 THE HEROES STORY 11

where the Lapithai breed their horses ; and the
lake of Boibe, and the stream which runs northward
to Penens and Tempe ; and he looked north, and
saw the mountain wall which guards the Magnesian
shore ; Olympus, the seat of the Immortals, and
Ossa, and Pelion, where he stood. Then he looked
east and saw the bright blue sea, which stretched
away for ever toward the dawn. Then lie looked
south, and saw a pleasant land, with white-walled
towns and farms, nestling along the shore of a land-
locked bay, while the smoke rose blue among the
trees ; and he knew it for the bay of Pagasai, and
the rich lowlands of Hremonia, and lolcos by
the sea,

Then he sighed, and asked, ' Is it true what the
heroes tell me - - that I am heir of that fail-
land?'

' And what good would it be to you, Jason, if
you were heir of that fair land ? '

' I would take it and keep it.'

' A strong man has taken it and kept it long.
Are you stronger than Pelias the terrible ?'

' I can try my strength with his/ said Jason ;
but Cheiron sighed, and said—

' You have many a danger to go through before
you rule in lolcos by the sea : many a danger and

PART ii Tin-: AKt;i>NAiTs ::.

IIKIIIV ;i woe; and strange troubles in siram.;e lands,
sudi a< man never saw before.'

' The happier I.' said Jason, 'to see what man
never saw before.'

And ('heiron sighed again, and said, ' The eaglet
must leave the nest when it is Hedged. Will you
go to lulc.is hy the sea? Then promise, me two
things before you ^o.'

.lason promised, and ('heiron answered, ' Speak
harshly to no soul whom you may meet, and stand
liy the word which you shall speak.'

.lason wondered why < 'heiron asked this of him;
but lie knew that the (Vntaur was a prophet, and
saw things long liet'ore they came. So he promised,
and leapt down the mountain, to take his fortune
like a man.

He went down through the arbutus thicken, and
across the downs of thyme, till lie came to the
vineyard walls, and the pomegranates and the olives
in the glen; and amon- the (.lives roared Anauros,
all foaming with a summer llood.

And on the bank of Anauros sal a woman, all
wrinkled, ".ray, and old; her head shook palsied on
her brea-t. and her hands shook palsied on her
knees ; and when she saw .Ia-on. she spoke whimim,
1 Who will carrv me across the Hood ?'

76 THE HEROES STORY n

Jason was bold and hasty, and was just going tn
leap into the flood : and yet he thought twice before
he leapt, so loud roared the torrent down, all brown
from the mountain rains, and silver-veined with
melting snow ; while underneath he could hear the
boulders rumbling like the tramp of horsemen or
the roll of wheels, as they ground along the narrow
channel, and shook the rocks on which he stood.

But the old woman whined all the more, ' I am
weak and old, fair youth. For Hera's sake, carry
me over the torrent.'

And Jason was going to answer her scornfully,
when Cheiron's words came to his mind.

So he said, ' For Hera's sake, the Queen of the
Immortals on Olympus, [ will carry you over the
torrent, unless we both are drowned midway.'

Then the old dame leapt upon his back, as nimbly
as a goat ; and Jason staggered in, wondering ; and
the first step was np to his knees.

The first step was up to his knees, and the second
step was up to his waist ; and the stones rolled
about his feet, and his feet slipped about the stones ;
so he went on staggering and panting, while the old
woman cried from off his back —

' Fool, you have wet my mantle ! Do you make
game of poor old souls like me ?'

PART ii THK AKCONAfTS 77

Jason had half a mind to drop her, and let her
get through the, torrent by herself; but Cheiron'>
words were in his mind, and he said only, • 1'atience,
mother; the best horse may stumble some day.'

At last he staggered to the shore, and set her
down upon the bunk; and a strong man he needed
to have been, or that wild water he never would
have crossed.

He lay panting awhile upon the bank, and then
leapt up to go upon his journey; but he cast one
look at the old woman, for he thought, 'She should
thank me onee at least.'

And as he looked, she grew fairer than all women,
and taller than all men on earth ; and her garments
shone like the summer sea, and her jewels like the
stars of heaven; and over her forehead was a veil.
woven of the golden clouds of sunset; and through
the veil she looked down on him, with great soft
heifer's eyes ; with great eyes, mild and awful,
which Idled all the glen with light.

And Jason fell upon his knees, and hid his face
between his hands.

And she spoke, ' 1 am the (v>ueen of Olympus,
Hera the wile of Zeus. As thou hast done to me,
so will I do to thee. Call on me in the hour ot
need, and try if the Immortals can forget.'

78 THE HEROES STORY n

And when Jason looked up, she rose from off the
earth, like a pillar of tall white cloud, and floated

»y

away across the mountain peaks, toward Olympus
the holy hill.

PART ii THK AIUJONAITS 7i»

Then a great tear fell on .lason : l»ut after a
while he grew light of heart ; ami he blessed old
('heiroii, and said, 'Surely the ( Vntaur is a prophet,
and guessed what would come to pass, when he
hade me speak harshly to no soul whom I might
meet.'

Then he went down toward lolcos ; and as he
walked he found that he had lost one of his sandals
ill the Hood.

And a> he went through the streets, the people
came out to look at him, so tall and fair was he ;
hut some of the elders whispered together; and at
last one of them stopped Jason, and railed to him,
' Fair lad, who are you, and whence come YOU; and

t c.

what is your errand in the town ?'

'My name, good father, is .lason, and I come
from 1'elion up above ; and my errand is to 1'elias
your king: tell me then where his palace is.'

Hut the old man started, and grew pale, and .said,
• Do you not know the oracle, my son, that you go
so buldlv through the town with but one sandal on? '

«. O

' 1 am a stranger here, and know of no oracle ;
but what of my one sandal >. 1 lost the other in
Anauros, while I was struggling with the Hood.'

Then the old man Looked hark to his companions]
and one sighed, and another smiled ; at last he said,

80 THE HEROES STORY n

' I will tell you, lest you rush upon your ruin
unawares. The oracle in Delphi has said that a
man wearing one sandal should take the kingdom
from Pelias, and keep it for himself. Therefore
beware how you go up to his palace, for he is the
fiercest and most cunning of all kings.'

Then Jason laughed a great laugh, like a war-
horse in his pride. ' Good news, good father, both
for you and me. For that very end I came into
the town.'

Then he strode on toward the palace of Pelias,
while all the people M-ondered at his bearing.

And he stood in the doorway and cried, ' Come
out, come out, Pelias the valiant, and fight for your
kingdom like a man.'

Pelias came out wondering, and ' Who are you,
bold youth ? ' he cried.

' I am Jason, the son of ^Eson, the heir of all
this land.'

Then Pelias lifted up his hands and eyes, and
wept, or seemed to weep ; and blessed the heavens
which had brought his nephew to him, never to
leave him more. ' For/ said he, ' I have but three
daughters, and no son to be my heir. You shall be
my heir then, and rule the kingdom after me, and
marry whichsoever of my daughters you shall

PART ii TIIK AKiaiNAUTS M

choose; though ;i sad kingdom you will lind it, and
whosoever rules it a miserable man. Hut conic in,
conic in, and feast.'

So he drew Jason in, whether lie would or not,
and spoke to him so lovingly and feasted him so
well, that Jason's anger passed; and after supper
his three cousins came into the hall, and Jason
thought that he should like well enough to have
one of them for his wife.

I'.ut at last he said to Pelias, ' Why do you look
so sad, my uncle \ And what did you mean just
now when you said that this was a doleful kingdom
and its ruler a miserable man?'

Then Telias sighed heavily again and again and
again, like a man who had to tell some dreadful
story, and was afraid to begin; hut at last- -

• Km- seven long years and more have I never
known a <juiet night ; and no more will he who
comes after me, till the golden lleeee l>e brought
home.'

Then he told Jason tin; story of Thrixus, and of
the golden Heece ; and told him, too, which was a
lie, that Phrixus' spirit tormented him, calling to
him day and night. And his daughters came, and
told the sinie tale (for their lather had taught them
their parts), and wept, and >aid, ' < >h who will bring

82 THE HEROKS STORY n

home the golden fleece, that our uncle's spirit may
rest ; and that we may have rest also, whom lie

tt

never lets sleep in peace ?'

Jason sat awhile, sad and silent ; for he had often
heard of that golden fleece ; but he looked on it as
a thing hopeless and impossible for any mortal man
to win it.

But when Pelias saw him silent, he began to talk
of other things, and courted Jason more and more,
speaking to him as if he was certain to be his
heir, and asking his advice about the kingdom ; till
Jason, who was young and simple, could not help
saying to himself, ' Surely he is not the dark man
whom people call him. Yet why did he drive my
father out ? ' And he asked Pelias boldly, ' Men
say that you are terrible, and a man of blood ; but
I find you a kind and hospitable man ; and as you
are to me, so will I be to you. Yet why did you
drive my father out?'

Pelias smiled, and sighed. ' Men have slandered
me in that, as in all things. Y^our father was
growing old and weary, and he gave the kingdom
up to me of his own will. You shall see him
to-morrow, and ask him ; and lie will tell you the
same.'

Jason's heart leapt in him when he heard that

PART n TIIK AKcnN.UTS 83

he was to see his lather; and he believed all that
I'elias said, forgetting that his father might not dare
to tell the truth.

'One thin^ more there is,' said I'elias, 'on
which T need y<mr advice; for, though you a IT
young, T see in you a wisdom beyond your years.
There is one neighbour of mine, whom [ dread more
than all men on earth. T am stronger than he
now, and can command him ; but I know that if
he stay among us, he will work my ruin in the end.
< 'an yon give me a plan, Jason, by which T can rid
myself of that man ''

After awhile Jason answered, half laughing,
• \Vere I you, I would send him to fetch that same
golden fleece; for if he once set forth after it yon
would never be troubled with him more.'

And at that a bitter smile came across J'elias'
lips, and a flash of wicked joy into his eyes; and
Jason saw it, and stalled ; ;md over his mind came
the warning of the old man, and his own one
sandal, ami the oracle, and he saw that he was
taken in a trap.

But I'elias only answered gently, ' Mv son, he
shall lie sent forthwith.'

'You mean me?' cried Jason, starting up,
'because I came herewith one .sandal?' And he

84 THE HEROES STORY n

lifted his fist angrily, while Pelias stood up to him
like a wolf at bay ; and whether of the two was the
stronger and the fiercer it would be hard to tell.

But after a moment Pelias spoke gently, ' Why
then so rash, my son ? You, and not I, have said
what is said ; why blame me for what I have not
done ? Had you bid me love the man of whom I
spoke, and make him my son-in-law and heir, I
would have obeyed you ; and what if I obey you
now, and send the man to win himself immortal
fame I I have not harmed you, or him. One
thing at least I know, that he will go, and that
gladly ; for he has a hero's heart within him, loving
glory, and scorning to break the word which he has
given.'

Jason saw that he was entrapped; but his second
promise to Cheirou came into his mind, and he
thought, ' What if the Centaur were a prophet in
that also, and meant that I should win the fleece ! '
Then he cried aloud—

' You have well spoken, cunning uncle of mine !
1 love glory, and I dare keep to my word. I will
go and fetch this golden fleece. Promise me but
this in return, and keep your word as I keep mine.
Treat my father lovingly while I am gone, for the
sake of the all-seeing Zeus ; and give me up the

PAR! ii TIIK AKCOXAITS 85

kingdom for my own on the day th;it I bring hack
the golden fleece.'

Then JVlias looked at him and almost loved liim,
in the midst of all his hate; and said, 'I promise,
and 1 will perform. It will lie no shame to give
up my kingdom to the man who wins that fleece.'

Then they swore a great oath between them ;
and afterwards both went in, and lay down to sleep.

lint .Jason could not sleep for thinking of his
mighty oath, and how he was to fulfil it, all alone,
and without wealth or friends. So he tossed a long
time upon his bed, and thought of this plan and of
that : and sometimes I'hrixus seemed to call him,
in a thin voice, faint and low, as if it came from
far across the sea, ' Let me come home to my
fathers and have rest.' And sometimes he seemed
to see the eyes of Hera, and to hear her words
again— '('all on me in the hour of need, and see
if the Immortals can forget.'

And on the morrow he went to 1'elias, and said,
'(live me a victim, that I may sacrifice to Hera.'
So he went up, and offered his sacrifice; and as he
stood by the altar Hera sent a thought into hi>
mind ; and he went back to Pelias, and said

'If you are indeed in earnest, give me two
heralds, that they may go round to all the princo

86 THE HEROES STORY n

of the Minuai, who were pupils of the Centaur with
me, that we may fit out a ship together, and take
what shall befall.'

At that Pelias praised his wisdom, and hastened
to send the heralds out; for he said in his heart,
' Let all the princes go with him, and, like him,
never return ; for so I shall be lord of all the
Minuai, and the greatest king in Hellas.'

1'AIIT HI

1K>\V TIIF.V IITILT Till: Sllll' 'ARC".)' IN

So the heralds went nut, ami cried to all the heroes
of the Minuai, • Who dare come to the adventure of
the golden ileeee ?'

And Hera stirred the hearts (.if all the princes,
and they came from all their valleys to the yellow
sands of I'agasai. And first came Heracles the
mighty, with his lion's skin and club, and In-hind
him Hylas his young squire, who bore his arrows and
his how ; and Tiphys, the skilful steersman ; and
liutes. the fairest of all men ; and Castor and I'oly-
deuces the twins, the sons of the magic swan ; and
C;eneus, the strongest of mortals, whom the Centaurs
tried in vain to kill, and overwhelmed him with
trunks of pine-trees, but even so he would not die:
and thither came Zeies and Calais, the winged sons
of the north wind ; and 1'eleus, the father of Achilles,
whose bride was silver-footed Thetis, the goddess of

THE HEROES STORY 11

the sea. And thither came Telamon and Oileus, the
fathers of the two Aiantes, who fought upon the
plains of Troy ; and Mopsus, the wise soothsayer,
who knew the speech of birds ; and Idmon, to whom
Phoebus gave a tongue to prophesy of things to come ;
and Ancaios, who could read the stars, and knew all
the circles of the heavens ; and Argus, the famed
shipbuilder, and many a hero more, in helmets of
brass and gold with tall dyed horse-hair crests, and
embroidered shirts of linen beneath their coats of
mail, and greaves of polished tin to guard their knees
in fight; with each man his shield upon his shoulder,
of many a fold of tough bull's hide, and his sword
of tempered bronze in his silver-studded belt ; and
in his right hand a pair of lances, of the heavy white
ash-staves.

So they came down to lolcos, and all the city
came out to meet them, and were never tired with
looking at their height, and their beauty, and their
gallant bearing, and the glitter of their inlaid arms.
And some said, ' Never was such a gathering of
the heroes since the Hellens conquered the land.'
But the women sighed over them, and whispered,
' Alas ! they are all going to their death ! '

Then they felled the pines on Pelion, and shaped
them with the axe, and Argus taught them to

PART in THK ARGONAUTS 89

build a galley, the lirst long ship which ever
sailed tin- SI-MS. They pieived her for lil'ty oars
MM oar for each hern uf the crew- --and pitched her
with coal-black pitch, and painted her bows with
vermilion ; and they named her Anjn after Argus,
and worked at her all day long. And at night
Pelias feasted them like a king, and they slept in
his palace-porch.

]>ut Jason went away to the northward, and
into the land of Thrace, till he found Orpheus, the
prince of minstrels, where he dwelt in his rave
under Jlhodopr, among the savage Cicon tribo.
And he asked him, ' Will you leave your moun-
tains, ( )rpheus, my fellow-scholar in old times, and
cross Strymoii once more with me. to sail with the
heroes of the Minuai, and bring home the golden
fleece, and charm for us all men and all monsters
v.'ith your magic harp and song '.'

Then Orpheus sighed, ' Have I not had enough
of toil and of weary wandering far and wide since I
lived in Cheiron's cave, above lolco.s by the sea '.
In vain is the skill and the voice \\hich my goddess
mother gave me: in vain have 1 sung and laboured ;
in vain 1 went down to the dead, ami charmed all
the kings of Hades, to win back Kurvdice mv bride.

^ \>

For I won her, my beloved, and lost her again the

90 THE HEROES STOKY n

same day, and wandered away in my madness, even
to Egypt and the Libyan sands, and the isles of all
the seas, driven on by the terrible gadfly, while I
charmed in vain the hearts of men, and the savage
forest beasts, and the trees, and the lifeless stones,
with my magic harp and song, giving rest, but find-
ing none. But at last Calliope my mother delivered
me, and brought me home in peace ; and I dwell
here in the cave alone, among the savage Cicon
tribes, softening their wild hearts with music and
the gentle laws of Zeus. And now I must go
out again, to the ends of all the earth., far away
into the misty darkness, to the last wave of the
Eastern Sea. But what is doomed must be,
and a friend's demand obeyed ; for prayers are
the daughters of Zeus, and who honours them
honours him.'

Then Orpheus rose up sighing, and took his harp,
and went over Strymon. And he led Jason to the
south-west, up the banks of Haliacmon and over the
spurs of Pindus, to Dodoiia the town of Zeus, where
it stood by the side of the sacred lake, and the foun-
tain which breathed out fire, in the darkness of the
ancient oakwood, beneath the mountain of the hun-
dred springs. And he led him to the holy oak,
where the black dove settled in old times, and was

I-AKI- 111 THE AKCONAITS 91

changed into the priestess of Zeus, and gave oracles
to all nations round. And lie bade him cut down
a bough, and sacrifice to Hera and to Zeus ; and
they took the bough and came to lolcos, and nailed
it to the beak-head of the ship.

And at last the ship was finished, and they tried
to lamieh her down the beach; but she was too
heavy for them to move her, and her keel sank deep
into the sand. Then all the heroes looked at each
other blushing ; but Jason spoke, and said, ' Let us
ask the magic bough ; perhaps it can help us in our
need.'

Then a voice came from the bough, and Jason
heard the words it said, and bade Orpheus play upon
the harp, while the heroes waited round, holding the
] line-trunk rollers, to help her toward the sea.

Then Orpheus took his harp, aiid began his magic
song- ' How sweet it is to ride upon the surges,
and to leap from wave to wave, while the wind sings
cheerful in the cordage, and the oars flash fast among
the foam ! How sweet it is to roam across the
ocean, and see new towns and wondrous lands, and
to come home laden with treasure, and to win un-
dying tame : '

And the good ship .-I///" heard him, and lon-rd
to be away and out at sea; till she <tirred in every

92 THE HEROES STOKY 11

timber, and heaved from stem to stern, and leapt up
from the sand upon the rollers, and plunged onward
like a gallant horse ; and the heroes fed her path
with pine-trunks, till she rushed into the whispering
sea.

Then they stored her well with food and water,
and pulled the ladder up on board, and settled them-
selves each man to his oar, and kept time to Orpheus'
harp ; and away across the bay they rowed south-
ward, while the people lined the cliffs ; and the
women wept, while the men shouted, at the starting
of that gallant crew.

rAirr iv

HOW' TIIK AKCONATTS SAILED TO COLCHIS

AMI \vluit happened next, my children, whether it

lie true or not. stands written in ancient sonu-, which
you shall read for yourselves some day. And grand
old songs they are, written in grand old rolling verse ;
and they call them the Songs of Orpheus, or the
< h'phics. to this day. And they tell how the heroes
came to Aphetai. across the bay, and waited lor the
south -west wind, and chose themselves a captain
from their crew: and how all called for Heracles,
because lie was the strongest and most huge; but
Heracles refused, and called for Jason, because he
was the wisest of them all. So Jason was chosen
captain; and Orpheus heaped a pile of wood, and
slew a bull, and offered it to Hera, and called all the
heroes to stand round, each man's head crowned
with olive, and to strike their swords into the bull.
Then lie tilled a golden goblet with the bull's blood

94 THE HEROES STORY n

and with wheaten flour, and honey, and wine, and
the bitter salt-sea water, and bade the heroes taste.
So each tasted the goblet, and passed it round, and
vowed an awful vow : and they vowed before the
sun, and the night, and the blue-haired sea who
shakes the land, to stand by Jason faithfully in the
adventure of the golden fleece ; and whosoever
shrank back, or disobeyed, or turned traitor to his
vow, then justice should minister against him, and
the Erinnues who track guilty men.

Then Jason lighted the pile, and burnt the car-
case of the bull ; and they went to their ship and
sailed eastward, like men who have a work to do ;
and the place from which they went was called
Aphetai, the sailing -place, from that day forth.
Three thousand years and more they sailed away,
into the unknown Eastern seas ; and great nations
have come and gone since then, and many a storm
has swept the earth ; and many a mighty armament,
to which Aryo would be but one small boat ; English
and French, Turkish and Russian, have sailed those
waters since; yet the fame of that small Aryo lives
for ever, and her name is become a proverb among
men.

So they sailed past the Isle of Sciathos, with the
Cape of Sepius on their left, and turned to the

PART iv THK AROOXAtTS

northward toward I'elion, uj> the long Magnesian
shore. (in their right hand was tin- open sea, ami
on their left «lil I'elion rose, \vhih- the clouds
crawh-d ruiind his dark pine-forests, and his caps of
suiiinicr snow. And their hearts yearned for the
dear old mountain, as they thought of pleasant day-
gone liy, and of the sports of their hovhood, and
their hunting, and their schooling in the cave lieneath
the cliff. And at last 1'eleus spoke, ' Let us land
here, friends, and cliinh the dear old hill once more.
\Ve are going on a fearful journey : who knows if
we shall see IVlion again '. Let us go up to Cheiron
our master, and ask his Messing ere we start. And
I have a hoy, too, with him, whom he trains as lie
trained me once — the son whom Thetis h rough t me.
the silver-footed lady of the sea, whom I caught ill
the cave, and tamed her, though she changed her
shape seven times. Fur she changed, as I held her,
into water, and to vapour, and to hurning flame, and
to a rock, and to a Mack-maned lion, and to a tall
and stately tree. Hut I held her and held her
ever, till she took her own shape again, and led her
to my father's house, and won her for my hride.
And all the rulers of < Hympus came, to our wedding.
and the heavens ami the earth rejoiced together,
when an Immortal wedded mortal man. And now

96 THE HEROES STORY n

let me see my sou ; for it is not often I shall see
him upon earth : famous he will be, but short-lived,
and die in the flower of youth.'

SD Tiphys the helmsman steered them to the shore
under the crags of Pelion; and they went up through
the dark pine-forests towards the Centaur's cave.

And they came into the misty hall, beneath the
snow -crowned crag; and saw the great Centaur
lying, with his huge limbs spread upon the rock ;
and beside him stood Achilles, the child whom no
steel could wound, and played upon his harp right
sweetly, while Cheiron watched and smiled.

Then Cheiron leapt up and welcomed them, and
kissed them every one, and set a feast before them
of swine's flesh, and venison, and good wine ; and
young Achilles served them, and carried the golden
goblet round. And after supper all the heroes
clapped their hands, and called on Orpheus to sing ;
but lie refused, and said, ' How can I, who am the
younger, sing before our ancient host ?' So they
called on Cheiron to sing, and Achilles brought him
his harp ; and he began a wondrous song ; a famous
story of old time, of the fight between the Centaurs
and the Lapithai, which you may still see carved in
stone.1 He sang how his brothers came to ruin by

1 In the Elgin Marbles.

i-AKi- iv TMK AR<:ON.UTS '.'7

their fully! when they were mad with wine; and
how they and the heroes fought, with lists, and
teeth, and the goblets t'nnn which they drank; and
how they tnre 141 the pine-trees in their fury, and
hurled great crags dt' stone, while the mountains
thundered with the kittle, and the land was wasted
Jar and wide ; till the Lapithai drove them from
their home in the rich Thessalian plains to the
lonely glens ut I'ind'is, leaving Clieiron all alone.
And the heroes praised his SOUL; right heartily ; for
some of them had helped in that great light.

Then Orpheus took the lyre, and sang of Chaos,
and the making of the wondrous "World, and how
all things sprang from Love, who could not live
alone in the Aiyss. And as he sang, his voice rose
from the cave, above the crags, and through the
tree-tops, and the glens of oak and pine. And the
trees lio\\i-d their heads when they heard it, and
the grav rocks cracked and rang, and tin- forest
beasts crept near to listen, and the birds forsook
their nests and hovered round. And old Clieiron
clapt his hands together, and beat his hoofs upon
the ground, for wonder at that magic song.

Then 1'eh-us kissed his boy, and wept over him,
and thev went down to the ship; and < 'heinm came.
down with them, weeping, and kissed them one by

H

98 THE HEROES STORY n

one, and blest them, and promised to them great
renown. And the heroes wept when they left him,
till their great hearts could weep no more ; for lie
was kind and just and pious, and wiser than all
beasts and men. Then he went up to a cliff, and
prayed for them, that they might come home safe
and well ; while the heroes rowed away, and
watched him standing on his cliff above the sea,
with his great hands raised toward heaven, and his
white locks waving in the wind ; and they strained
their eyes to watch him to the last, for they felt
that they should look on him no more.

So they rowed on over the long swell of the sea,
past Olympus, the seat of the Immortals, and past
the wooded bays of Athos, and Samothrace the
sacred isle ; and they came past Lemnos to the
Hellespont, and through the narrow strait of
Abydos, and so .on into the Propontis, which we call
Marmora now. And there they met with Cyzicus,
ruling in Asia over the Dolions, who, the songs say,
was the son of xEneas, of whom you will hear many
a tale some day. For Homer tells us how he
fought at Troy, and Virgil how he sailed away and
founded Eome ; and men believed until late years
that from him sprang our old British kings. Now
Cyzicus, the songs say, welcomed the heroes, for his

i-uir iv TIIK AlKiUNAlTS 99

father had been one uf Cheiron's scholars ; so he
welcomed them, and feasted them, and stored their
ship with CM »ru and wine, and cloaks and rugs, the
songs say, and shirts, of which no doubt they stood
in need.

r>ut at night, while they lay sleeping, came down
on them terrible men, who lived with the bears in
the mountains, like Titans or giants in shape ; for
eai-h of them had six arms, and they fought with
young firs and pines. But Heracles killed them all
before morn with his deadly poisoned arrows; but
among them, in the darkness, he slew Cyzicus the
kindly prinrr.

Then they got to their ship and to their oars, and
Tiphys bade them cast off the hawsers and go to sea.
J'»ut as he spoke a whirlwind came, and spun the
Afjo round, and twisted the hawsers together, so
that no man roiild loose them. Then Tiphys dropped
the rudder from his hand, and cried, ' This conies
from the Gods above.' I'.ut Jason went ibi \\ard,
and asked counsel of the magic bough.

Then the magic bough spoke, and answered,
'This is because, you have slain Cyzicus your friend,
You must appease his soul, or you will never leave
this shoi'-.'

Jason went back sadly, and told the heroes what

100 THE HEROES STORY n

he had heard. And they leapt on shore, and
searched till dawn ; and at dawn they found the
body, all rolled in dust and blood, among the corpses
of those monstrous beasts. And they wept over
•their kind host, and laid him on a fair bed, and
heaped a huge mound over him, and offered black
sheep at his tomb, and Orpheus sang a magic song
to him, that his spirit might have rest. And then
they held games at the tomb, after the custom of
those times, and Jason gave prizes to each winner.
To Ancaios he gave a golden cup, for he wrestled best
of all ; and to Heracles a silver one, for he was the
strongest of all ; and to Castor, who rode best, a
golden crest ; and Polydeuces the boxer had a rich
carpet, and to Orpheus for his song a sandal with
golden wings. But Jason himself was the best of all
the archers, and the Minuai crowned him with an
olive crown ; and so, the songs say, the soul of good
Cyzicus was appeased and the heroes went on their
way in peace.

But when Cyzicus' wife heard that he was dead she
died likewise of grief; and her tears became a fountain
of clear water, which flows the whole year round.

Then they rowed away, the songs say, along the
Mysian shore, and past the mouth of lihyndacus, till
they found a pleasant bay, sheltered by the long

iv\i: i iv THK AKCnX.UTS 101

riders (if Arganthus, and liy high walls of hasalt
rock. And there they ran the ship ashore upon the
yellow sand, and furled the sail, and took the ma-t
down, and lashed it in its crutch. And next the\
let down the ladder, and went ashore to sport and rest.

And there Heracles went away into the w U,

bow in hand, to hunt wild deer; and Hy las the fair
boy slipt away after him, and followed him by
-valth, until he lost himself among the glens, and
sat down weary to rest himself by the side of a lake;
and there the water nymphs came up to look at him,
and loved him, and carried him down under the lake
to be their playfellow, for ever happy and young.
And Heracles sought for him in vain, shouting his
name till all the mountains rang : but Hylas never
heard him, far down under the sparkling lake. So
while Heracles wandered searching for him, a fair
breeze sprang up, and Heracles was nowhere to be
found : and the Ar<i<> sailed away, and Heracles was
left behind, and never saw the noble Phasian
stream.

Then the Minuai came to a doleful land, wlier--
Amycus the giant ruled, and cared nothing lor the
laws of /ens, but challenged all stiangers to box
with him. and those whom he con<[iiered he slew.
Kilt 1'olvdeuces (lie boxer -truck him a harder blow

102 THE HEROES STORY u

than he ever felt before, and slew him ; and the
Minuai went on up the Bosporus, till they came
to the city of Phineus, the fierce Bithynian king;
for Zetes and Calais bade Jason land there, because
they had a work to do.

And they went up from the shore toward the
city, through forests white with snow ; and Phineus
came out to meet them with a lean and woful face,
and said, ' Welcome, gallant heroes, to the land of
bitter blasts, the land of cold and misery ; yet T
will feast you as best I can.' And he led them in,
and set meat before them ; but before they could
put their hands to their mouths, down came two
fearful monsters, the like of whom man never saw ;
for they had the faces and the hair of fair maidens,
but the wings and claws of hawks ; and they
snatched the meat from off the table, and flew
shrieking out above the roofs.

Then Phineus beat his breast and cried, ' These
are the Harpies, whose names are the Whirlwind
and the Swift, the daughters of Wonder and of the
Amber-nymph, and they rob us night and day. They
carried off the daughters of Pandareus, whom all the
Gods had blest ; for Aphrodite fed them on Olympus
with honey and milk and wine ; and Hera gave
them beauty and wisdom, and Athene skill in all

1'AKT iv TIIK AKCONAITS 103

the arts; but when they came to tlieiv wedding, the
Harpies snatched them both away, and gave them
to lie slaves to the Krinnues, and live in horror all
their days. And now they haunt me, and my
people, and th'1 P.osporus, with fearful storms; and
sweep away our food from oil' our tables, so that we
starve in spite of all our wealth.'

Then up rose Zetes and Calais, the winded sons
of the Xorth-wind, and said, ' Do you not know us,
Phineus, and these wings which grow upon our
backs?' And Phineus hid his face in terror; but
he answered not a word.

'Because you have been a traitor, Phineus, the
Harpies haunt you night and day. Where is
Cleopatra our sister, your wife, whom you keep in
prison ? and where are her two children, whom you
blinded in your rage, at the bidding of an evil
woman, and east them out upon the rocks? Swear
to us that you will right our sister, and cast out
that wicked woman ; and then we will free you
from your plague, and drive the whirlwind maidens
to the south ; but if not, we will put out your eyes,
as you put out the eyes of your own sons.'

Then Phineus swore an oath to them, and drove
out the wicked woman ; and Jason took those two
poor children, and cured their eyes with magic herbs.

104 THE HEROES STORY n

But Zetes and Calais rose up sadly and said,
' Farewell now, heroes all ; farewell, our dear com-
panions, with whom we played on Pelion in old
times ; for a fate is laid upon us, and our day is
come at last, in which we must hunt the whirl-
winds over land and sea for ever ; and if we catch
them they die, and if not, we die ourselves.'

At that all the heroes wept ; but the two young
men sprang up, and aloft into the air after the
Harpies, and the battle of the winds began.

The heroes trembled in silence as they heard the
shrieking of the blasts ; while the palace rocked
and all the city, and great stones were torn from
the crags, and the forest pines were hurled earth-
ward, north and south and east and west, and the
Bosporus boiled white with foam, and the clouds
were dashed against the cliffs.

But at last the battle ended, and the Harpies
fled screaming toward the south, and the sons of
the North-wind rushed after them, and brought
clear sunshine where they passed. For many a
league they followed them, over all the isles of the
Cyclades, and away to the south-west across Hellas,
till they came to the Ionian Sea, and there they fell
upon the Echinades, at the mouth of the Achelous ;
and those isles were called the Whirlwind Isles for

PART iv TIIH AKCOXAITS 105

many a hundred years. But what liecame »t' Xdes
ami Calais I know not, for the heroes never saw
them again : ami some say that Heracles met them,
and quarrelled with them, and slew them with his
arrows; and some say that they fell down from
weariness and the heat of the summer sun, and that
the Sun-god huried them among the Cyclades, in
the pleasant Isle of Tenos ; and for many hundred
years their grave was shown there, and over it a
pillar, which turned t<> every wind. But those
dark storms and whirlwinds haunt the Bosporus
until this day.

]>ut the Argonauts went eastward, and out into
the open sea, which we now call the Black Sea, hut
it was called the Euxine then. No Hellen had
ever crossed it, and all feared that dreadful sea, and
its rocks, and shoals, and 1'o^s, and hitter free/ing
storms; and they told strange stories of it, some
false and some half-true, how it stretched northward
to the ends of the earth, and the sluggish Putrid
Sea, and the everlasting night, and the regions of
the dead. So the heroes tremhlnl, for all their
courage, as they came into that wild lUack Sea.
and saw it stretching out before them, without a

shore, as far as eye emild see.

And lirst Orpheus spoke, and warned them, 'We

106 THE HEROES STORY n

shall come now to the wandering blue rocks ; my
mother warned me of them, Calliope, the immortal
muse.'

And soon they saw the blue rocks shining like
spires and castles of gray glass, while an ice-cold
wind blew from them and chilled all the heroes'
hearts. And as they neared they could see them
heaving, as they rolled upon the long sea-waves,
crashing and grinding together, till the roar went
up to heaven. The sea sprang up in spouts between
them, and swept round them in white sheets of
foam ; but their heads swung nodding high in air,
while the wind whistled shrill among the crags.

The heroes' hearts sank within them, and they
lay upon their oars in fear ; but Orpheus called to
Tiphys the helmsman, 'Between them we must pass;
so look ahead for an opening, and be brave, for
Hera is with us.' lUit Tiphys the cunning helms-
man stood silent, clenching his teeth, till he saw a
heron come flying mast-high toward the rocks, and
hover awhile before them, as if looking for a passage
through. Then he cried, ' Hera has sent us a
pilot ; let us follow the cunning bird.'

Then the heron flapped to and fro a moment, till
he saw a hidden gap, and into it he rushed like an
arrow, while the heroes watched what would befall.

PART iv THK AK<:ONA1TS 107

Ami the liluc. rocks clashed together as the bird
tied swiftly through ; l»ut they struck but a leather
from his tail, and then rebounded apart at the
shock.

Then Tiphys cheered the heroes, and they shouted;
and the oars bent like withes beneath their strokes
as they rushed between those toppling ice-crags and
the cold blue lips of death. And ere the rocks
could meet again they had passed them, and were
safe out in the open sea.

And after that they sailed on wearily along the
Asian coast, by the Black Cape and Thynias, where
the hot stream of Thymbris falls into the sea, and
Sangarhis, whose waters float on the Euxine, till
they came to Wolf the river, and to Wolf the kindly
king. And there died two brave heroes, Idinon and
Tiphys the wise helmsman : one died of an evil
sickness, and one a will boar slew. So the heroes
heaped a mound above them, and set upon it an oar
on high, and left them then- to sleep together, on
the far-off Lycian shore. I'.ut Idas killed the boar,
and avenged Tiphys ; and Ancaios took the rudder
and was helmsman, and steered them on toward the
east

And they went on past Sim.pe, and many a
mighty river's mouth, and past many a barbarous

108 THE HEROES STORY n

tribe, and the cities of the Amazons, the warlike
women of the East, till all night they heard the
clank of anvils and the roar of furnace-blasts, and
the forge-fires shone like sparks through the dark-
ness in the mountain glens aloft ; for they were
come to the shores of the Chalybes, the smiths who
never tire, but serve Ares the cruel War-god, forging
weapons day and night.

And at day -dawn they looked eastward, and
midway between the sea and the sky they saw
white snow-peaks hanging, glittering sharp and
bright above the clouds. ' And they knew that they
were come to Caucasus, at the end of all the earth :
Caucasus the highest of all mountains, the father of
the rivers of the East. On his peak lies chained
the Titan, while a vulture tears his heart ; and at
his feet are piled dark forests round the magic
Colchian land.

And they rowed three days to the eastward,
while Caucasus rose higher hour by hour, till they
saw the dark stream of 1'hasis rushing headlong to
the sea, and, shining above the tree-tops, the golden
roofs of King Aietes, the child of the Sun.

Then out spoke Ancaios the helmsman, ' We are
come to our goal at last, for there are the roofs
of Aietes, and the woods where all poisons grow ;

PART iv THK AKCONAITS 10!»

but who c;tn tell us where union;/ them is hid the
golden fleece ? Many a toil must we hear ere we

O c

find it, and bring it home to (Ireeee.'

Hut .Jason cheered the heroes, tor his heart was
high and hold; and lie said, ' I will go alone up to
Aides, though he be the child of the Sun, and win
him with soft words. Better so than to go altogether,
and to come to blows at once.' Hut the Minuui
would not stay behind, so they rowed boldly up the
stream.

And a dream came to Aietes, and filled his heart
with fear. He thought he saw a shining star, which
fell into his daughter's lap ; and that Medeia his
daughter took it gladly, and carried it to the river-
side, and cast it in, and there the whirling river
bore it down, and out into the Kuxine Sea.

Then he leapt up in fear, and bade his servants
bring his chariot, that he might go down to the
river-side and appease the nymphs, and the heroes
whose spirits haunt the bank. So lie went down
in his golden chariot, and his daughters by his side,
Medeia the fair witch-maiden, and Chale.ioiie, who
had been Phrixus' wife, and behind him a crowd of
servants and soldiers, for he was a rich and might v

C.1 *,

prince.

And as he drove down by the reedy river he saw

110 THE HEROES STORY n

Aryo sliding up beueath the bank, and many a hero
in her, like Immortals for beauty and for strength,
as their weapons glittered round them in the level
morning sunlight, through the white mist of the
stream. But Jason was the noblest of all ; for
Hera, who loved him, gave him beauty and tallness
and terrible manhood.

And when they came near together and looked
into each other's eyes the heroes were awed before
Aietes as he shone in his chariot, like his father the
glorious Sun ; for his robes were of rich gold tissue,
and the rays of his diadem flashed fire ; and in his
hand he bore a jewelled sceptre, which glittered like
the stars ; and sternly he looked at them under his
brows, and sternly he spoke and loud—

' Who are you, and what want you here, that
you come to the shore of Cutaia ? Do you take no
account of my rule, nor of my people the Colchians
who serve me, who never tired yet in the battle,
and know well how to face an invader ?'

And the heroes sat silent awhile before the face
of that ancient king. But Hera the awful goddess
put courage into Jason's heart, and he rose and
shouted loudly in answer, 'We are no pirates nor
lawless men. We come not to plunder and to
ravage, or carry away slaves from your land ; but

PART iv THK AKi-UNAl PS HI

my uncle, the son of Poseidon, J'elias the Minuan
king, lie il is who has set me on a quest to brin-
home the golden ileece. And these too, my hold
Comrades, they are no nameless men; for some are the
sons of Immortals, and some of heroes far renowned.
And we ton never tire in kittle, and know well
how to give blows and to take: yet we wish to he
•niests at vour table : it will lie better so for both.'

O v

Then Aides' rage rushed up like a \vhirlwiucl,
and his eye.- Hashed fire as he heard ; but he crushed
his airier down in his breast, and spoke mildly a.
cunning speech-

' If you will tight for the ileece with my Colchiaiis,
then many a man must die. But do you indeed
expert t,, win from me the fleece in fight? So few
you are that it' you be worsted I can load your ship
with your corpses. lint if you will be ruled by me,
vou will lind it better far to choose the best man
among you, ami let him fulfil the labours which I
demand. Then 1 will give him the golden fleece
for a prize and a glory to you all.'

So saying, he turned his horses and drove back
in sileuce to the town. And the Minuai sat silent
with sorrow, and longed for Heraelcs and his
.Mreii"th; for there was no faring the thousands ot

." i

the Colchiaiis and the fearful chance of war.

112 THE HEROES STORY n

But Chalciope, Phrixus' widow, went weeping to
the town ; for she remembered her Miuuan husband,
and all the pleasures of her youth, while she watched
the fair faces of his kinsmen, and their long locks
of golden hair. And she whispered to Medeia her
sister, ' Why should all these brave men die ? why
does not my father give them up the fleece, that my
husband's spirit may have rest ?'

And Medeia's heart pitied the heroes, and Jason
most of all ; and she answered, ' Our father is stern
and terrible, and who can win the golden fleece ?'
But Chalciope said, ' These men are not like our
men ; there is nothing which they cannot dare nor
do.'

And Medeia thought of Jason and his brave
countenance, and said, ' If there was one among
them who knew no fear, I could show him how to
win the fleece.'

So in the dusk of evening they went down to
the river-side, Chalciope and Medeia the witch-
maiden, and Argus, Phrixus' sou. And Argus the
boy crept forward, among the beds of reeds, till he
came where the heroes were sleeping, on the thwarts
of the ship, beneath the bank, while Jason kept
ward on shore, and leant upon his lance full of
thought. And the boy came to Jason, and said-

I'Aur iv THE ARCOXAl'TS li;j

' I am the sou of I'hrixus, your cousin ; and
Chalciope my mother waits for you, to talk about
the golden lleeee.'

Then .lason went, lioldly with the hoy, and found
the two princesses standing; and when Chalciope
saw him she wept, and took his hands, and cried—

'() cousin of my lidoved, go home before you
die!1

' It would be base to go home now, fair princess,
and to have sailed all these seas in vain.' Then
both tho princesses besought him; but Jason said,
' It is too late.'

' J>ut you know not,' said Medeia, 'what he
must do who would win the fleece. He must tame
the two bra/.eii-t'ooted bulls, who breathe devouring
llame ; and with them he must plough ere nightfall
four acres in the, field of Ares ; and he must sow
them with serpents' teeth, of which each tooth
springs up into an armed man. Then he must fight
with all those warriors ; and little will it profit him
to compiler them, for the fleece is guarded by a
serpent, more hu-e than any mountain pine; and
over his body you must step if you would reach
the golden fleece.'

Then .lasmi laughed bitterly. ' I'njustly is that
fleece kept here, and by an unjust and lawless king ;

114 THE HEROES STORY n

and unjustly shall I die in my youth, for I will
attempt it ere another sun be set.'

Then Medeia trembled, and said, ' No mortal man
can reach that fleece unless I guide him through.
For round it, beyond the river, is a wall full nine
ells high, with lofty towers and buttresses, and
mighty gates of threefold brass ; and over the gates
the wall is arched, with golden battlements above.
And over the gateway sits Brimo, the wild witch-
huntress of the woods, brandishing a pine-torch in
her hands, while her mad hounds howl around.
No man dare meet her or look on her, but only I
her priestess, and she watches far and wide lest any
stranger should come near.'

' No wall so high but it may be climbed at last,
and no wood so thick but it may be crawled
through ; no serpent so wary but he may be
charmed, or witch-queen so fierce but spells may
soothe her ; and I may yet win the golden fleece,
if a wise maiden help bold men.'

And he looked at Medeia cunningly, and held
her with his glittering eye, till she blushed and
trembled, and said—

' Who can face the fire of the Lulls' breath, and
light ten thousand armed men ?'

' He whom you help,' said Jason, flattering her,

PART iv TIIK AKcuNATTS 11.-

' l"i- your r;iiiir is spread over all the earth. Are
you imt tin.- ijueen uf all enchant ivsses, \\iser even
than yuiir sister Circe, in her fairy island in the
Wesl

•Would that I were with my sister Circe in her
fairy island in tin- WeM, far away i'runi sure tempta-
tion and thoughts which tear the heart ! ]>ut if it
must lie so — for whv should YOU die ' -I have an

V *

ointment here; 1 made it from the magic ice-flower
which sprang from Prometheus' wound, ahove the
cluuds on Caucasus, in the dreary fields of snow.
Anoint yourself with that, and you shall have in
you seven men's strength; and anoint your shield
with it. and neither lire nor sword can harm vou.
I'.ut what you lir^in yuu must end he fore sunset,
for its virtue lasts unlv une day. And anoint your

*• «/

helmet with it l.rfmv yuu sow the serpents' teeth;
and when the suns of earth spring up, casl \'uur
helmet among their ranks, and the deadly crop of
the War-nod's |j,.hl will mow itself, and perish.'

Then -lasoii fell on his knees lie fore her, and
thanked her and kissed her hands; and she ga\e
him the vase of ointment, and lied trembling through
the ived-. And .lasoii told his comrades what had
happened, and showed them the box of ointment ;
and all rejoiced Imt Idas, and he "jvw mad witli envv.

116 THE HEROES STOKY n

And at sunrise Jason went and bathed, and
anointed himself from head to foot, and his shield,
and his helmet, and his weapons, and bade his com-
rades try the spell. So they tried to bend his lance,
but it stood like an iron bar ; and Idas in spite
hewed at it with his sword, but the blade flew to
splinters in his face. Then they hurled their lances
at his shield, but the spear-points turned like lead ;
and Cseneus tried to throw him, but lie never stirred
a foot ; and Polydeuces struck him with his fist a
blow which would have killed an ox, but Jason only
smiled, and the heroes danced about him with
delight ; and he leapt, and ran, and shouted in the
joy of that enormous strength, till the sun rose, and
it was time to go and to claim Aietes' promise.

So he sent up Telamon and Aithalides to tell
Aietes that he was ready for the fight ; and they
went up among the marble walls, and beneath the
roofs of gold, and stood in Aietes' hall, while he
grew pale with rage.

' Fulfil your promise to us, child of the blazing
Sun. Give us the serpents' teeth, and let loose the
fiery bulls ; for we have found a champion among
us who can win the golden fleece.'

And Aietes bit his lips, for he fancied that they
had fled away by night : but he could not go back

PART iv TIIK AK'inN.MTS 11T

from his promise ; so In- ^ave them the >erpeiits'
teeth.

Then lie (-tiled for his chariot and his horses, and
sent heralds through all the town ; and all the
people went nut with him to the dreadful War-god's
field

And there Aietes sat upon his throne, with his
warriors on each hand, thousands and tens of thou-
sands, clothed from head to toot in steel chain-mail.
And the people and the women crowded to every
window and hank and wall; while the Minuai stood
together, a mere handful in the midst of that greathost.

And ( 'lialciope was there and ArgUS, trembling,
and Medeia, wrapped closely in her veil ; but Aietes
tlid not know that she was muttering cunning spells
between her lips.

Then Jason cried. • Fulfil your pruini.se, and let
your fiery bulls come forth.'

Then Aiete< hade open the gates, and the magic
bulls leapt out. Their bra /en hoofs rang upon the
•j round, and their nostrils sent out sheets of flame,
as they rushed with lowered heads upon Jason; but
he never flinched a step. The flame of their breath
>\vept round him, but it singed not a hair of his head ;
and the bulls slopped short and trembled when
Medeia began her spell.

118 THE HEROES STUKY n

Theii Jasou sprang upou the nearest and seized
him by the horn ; and up and down they wrestled,
till the Lull fell grovelling on his kuees ; for the

o o

heart of the brute died within him, and his mighty
limbs were loosed, beneath the steadfast eye of that
dark witch-maiden and the magic whisper of her lips.

So both the bulls were tamed and yoked ; and
Jason bound them to the plough, and goaded them
onward with his lance till he had ploughed the
sacred field.

And all the Miimai shouted ; but Aietes bit his
lips with rage, for the half of Jason's work was over,
and the sun was yet high in heaven.

Then he took the serpents' teeth and sowed them,
and waited what would befall. But Mecleia looked
at him and at his helmet, lest he should forget the
lesson she had taught.

And every furrow heaved and bubbled, and out
of every clod arose a man. Out of the earth they
rose by thousands, each clad from head to foot in
steel, and drew their swords and rushed on Jason,
where he stood in the midst alone.

Then the Minuai grew pale with fear for him :
but Aietes laughed a bitter laugh. ' See ! if I had
not warriors enough already round me, I could call
them out of the bosom of the earth.'

i-Ai:r iv THK AHCONAl'TS 119

r>ut Jason snatched dtr his helmet, and hurled it
into the thickest of the throng. And Mind madn<
came upon then), suspicion, hate, and fear; and OIK;
cried to his fellow, ' Thou didst strike me ! ' and
another, ' Thou art Jason ; thou shah die ! ' So fury
>ei/ed thiisc earth-born phantoms, and each turned
his hand against the resl ; and they fought and were
never weary, till they all lay dead upon the ground.
Then the magic furrows opened, and the kind earth
look them home into her breast ; and the grass grew
up all green again above them, and Jason's work-
was done.

Then the Minuai rose and shouted, till Prometheus
heard them from his crag. And Jason cried, 'Lead
UK- to the fleece this moment, before the sun goe<
down.'

But Aietes thought, 'He has conquered the bulls,
and sown and reaped the deadly crop. Who is this
who is proof against all magic '. He may kill the
serpent yet.1 So he delayed, and sat taking counsel
with his princes till the sun went down and all wa-
dark. Then he bade a herald cry, 'Every man to
his home for to-night. To-morrow we will meet
these heroes, and speak about the golden lleece.'

Then he turned and looked at .Medeia. ' This is
your doing, fulse witch-maid I You have helped

120 THE HEROES STORY n

these yellow-haired strangers, and brought shame
upon your father and yourself ! '

Medeia shrank and trembled, and her face grew
pale with fear ; and Aietes knew that she was guilty,
and whispered, ' If they win the fleece, you die!'

But the Minuai marched toward their ship, growl-
ing like lions cheated of their prey ; for they saw
that Aietes meant to mock them, and to cheat them
out of all their toil. And Oileus said, ' Let us go
to the grove together, and take the fleece by force.'

And Idas the rash cried, ' Let us draw lots who
shall go in first ; for, while the dragon is devouring
one, the rest can slay him and carry off the fleece
in peace.' But Jason held them back, though he
praised them ; for he hoped for Medeia's help.

And after awhile Medeia came trembling, and
wept a long while before she spoke. And at last—

' My end is come, and I must die ; for my father
has found out that 1 have helped you. You lie
would kill if he dared ; but he will not harm you,
because you have been his guests. Go then, go, and
remember poor Medeia when you are far away across
the sea.' But all the heroes cried—

' If you die, we die with you ; for without you
we cannot win the fleece, and home we will not go
without it, but fall here fighting to the last man.'

I-AKT iv THE ARCONAI T>

'You need not die,' said Jason. ' Flee home
•with us across the sea. Show us first how to win
the fleece; tor you can do it. AVhy else are you
the priestess of the grove >. Show us but how to
win the lleeee, and come with us, and you shall he
my queen, and rule over the rich princes of the
Minuai, in lolcos hy the sea.'

And all the heroes pressed round, and vowed to
her that she should he their queen.

Mcdeia wept, and shuddered, and hid her face in
her hands ; for her heart yearned after her sisters
and her playfellows, and the home where she was
brought up as a ehild. Tmt at last she looked up
at Jason, and spoke between her sobs—

'Must I leave my home and my people, to
wander with strangers across the sea '. The lot is
east, and I must endure it. I will show you how
to will the golden fleece, liring up your ship to
the wood-side, and moor her then- against the hank;
and let Jason come up at midnight, and one brave
comrade with him, and meet me beneath the wall.'

Then all the heroes cried together,'! will go!'
'and I!' 'and 1!' And Idas the rash grew
mad witli envy: for he longed to In- ton-must in
all thin-s. l'-ut Mrdriu calmed them, and said,
' ( Irpheus shall go with Jason, and bring his magic

122 THE HEROES STORY n

harp ; for I hear of him that he is the king of all
minstrels, and can charm all things on earth.'

And Orpheus laughed for joy, and clapped his
hands, because the choice had fallen on him ; for in
those days poets and singers were as bold warriors
as the best.

So at midnight they went up the bank, and
found Medeia ; and beside came Absyrtus her
young brother, leading a yearling lamb.

Then Medeia brought them to a thicket beside
the War-god's gate ; and there she bade Jason dig
a ditch, and kill the lamb, and leave it there, and
strew on it magic herbs and honey from the
honeycomb.

Then sprang up through the earth, with the red
fire flashing before her, Brimo the wild witch-
huntress, while her mad hounds howled around.
She had one head like a horse's, and another like a
ravening hound's, and another like a hissing snake's,
and a sword in either hand. And she leapt into
the ditch with her hounds, and they ate and drank
their fill, while Jason and Orpheus trembled, and
Medeia hid her eyes. And at last the witch-queen
vanished, and fled with her hounds into the woods ;
and the bars of the gates fell down, and the brazen
doors flew wide, and Medeia and the heroes ran

1'AUi iv T1IK ARCON.UTS 123

forward and hurried through the poison \vood. amoirj
the dark stems of tho mighty beeches, guided by
the gleam of the golden Mm r. until tliey saw it
hanging mi one vast tree in the midst. And Jason
would have sprung to seixe it; out Medina held
him lurk, and pointed, shuddering, to the tree-foot,
where the mighty serpent lay, roiled in and out
among the roots, with a body like a mountain pine.
His coils stretched many a fathom, spangled with
liron/e and gold ; and half of him they could see,
but no more, for the rest lay in the darkness far

be\ olid.

And when he saw them coming he lifted up his
head, and watched them with his small bright eyes,
and Hashed his forked tongue, and roared like the
tire among the woodlands, till the forest tossed and
groaned. For his cries shook the trees from leaf to
root, and swept over the long reaches of the river,
and over Aietes' hall, and woke the sleepers in the
city, till mothers clasped their children in their fear.

Jiut Medeia called gently to him, and he stretched
out his long spotted neck, and licked her hand, and
looked up iii her fare, as if to ask for food. Then
she made a. sign to Orpheus, and he be-an his
magic song.

And as he sung, the forest ^re\v mini again, and

STORY II

124 THE HEROES

the leaves on every tree hung still ; and the serpent's
head sank down, and his brazen coils grew limp,

and his glittering eyes closed lazily, till he breathed
a^ gently as a child, while Orpheus called to pleasant

PART iv Till: A K<; ON A ITS

Slumber, who gives peai'e tn ineii, ami beasts, ami

waves.

Then Jason leapt forward \varily, ami slept across
that mightv snake, ami tore tlie fleece from off the
tree-trunk ; ami the four rushed down the garden.
to the bank where tlie Anjo lay.

There was a silence i'or a moment, while Jason
held the golden tleece on high. Then he cried,
' Go now, good J /;</", swift and steady, if ever you
would see Pelion more.'

And she went, as the heroes drove her, grim and
silent all, with nmlfied oars, till the pine-wood bent
like willow in their hands, and stout Aryo groaned
beneath their strokes.

On and on, beneath the dewy darkness, they fled
swiftly down the swirling stream; underneath black
walls, and temples, and the castles of the princes ol
the East ; past sluice-mouths, and fragrant gardens,
and groves of all strange fruits; past marshes where
1'at kine lay sleeping, and long beds of whispering
reeds ; till they heard the merry music of the surge
upon the bar, as it tumbled in the moonlight all alone.

Into the surge they rushed, and .//•//" leapt the
breakers like a horse; for she knew the time was
come to show her mettle, and win honour for the
heroes and herself.

126 THE HEROES STORY n

Into the surge they rushed, and Anjo leapt the
breakers like a horse, till the heroes stopped all
panting, each man upon his oar, as she slid into the
still broad sea.

Then Orpheus took his harp and sang a preau, till
the heroes' hearts rose high again ; and they rowed
on stoutly and steadfastly, away into the darkness
of the West.

!loW THK ARGONAUTS WKKF. I'HIVKX INTO Till:
UNKNOWN SKA

So they Hed away in haste to the westward; Imt
Aietes manned his licet and followed them. And
Lynceus the qniek-eyed saw him coming, while he
was still many a mile away, and cried, ' I see a
hundred ships, like a Hock of white swans, far in
the east." And at that they rowed hard, like
heroes; but the ships came nearer every hour.

Then .Medeia, the dark witeh-maiden, laid a
cruel and a cunning pint; for she killed Absyrtns
her ymin" brother, and east him into the sea, and

v

said, ' Kre my father can take up his corpse and
liury it, he must wait Ion-, and be left far behind.'

And all the heroes shuddered, and looked one
;it the other for shame; yet they did not puni-h
that dark witch-woman, because she had won for

them the yoldell lleece.

128 THE HEROES STOKY n

And when Aietes came to the place he saw the
floating corpse ; and he stopped a long while, and
bewailed his son, and took him up, and went home.
But he sent on his sailors toward the westward,
and bound them by a mighty curse — ' Bring back
to me that dark witch-woman, that she may die a
dreadful death. But if you return without her, you
shall die by the same death yourselves.'

So the Argonauts escaped for that time: but
Father Zeus saw that foul crime ; and out of the
heavens he sent a storm, and swept the ship far from
her course. Day after day the storm drove her, amid
foam and blinding mist, till they knew no longer where
they were, for the sun was blotted from the skies.
And at last the ship struck on a shoal, amid low isles
of mud and sand, and the waves rolled over her and
through her, and the heroes lost all hope of life.

Then Jason cried to Hera, ' Fair queen, who
hast befriended us till now, why hast thou left us
in our misery, to die here among unknown seas ?
It is hard to lose the honour which we have won
with such toil and danger, and hard never to see
Hellas again, and the pleasant bay of Pagasai.'

Then out and spoke the magic bough which
stood upon the Argo's beak, ' Because Father Zeus
is angry, all this has fallen on you ; for a cruel

PAETV TIIK ARGONAUTS 129

crime has been d<me on hoard, and the sacred ship
is foul with blood.'

At that sonic of the heroes rried, 'Medeia is
the murderess. Let the witch-woman bear her sin,
and die!' And they sei/ed Medeia, to hurl her
into the sea, and atone for the young boy's death;
but the magic bough spoke again, 'Let her live till
her crimes are lull. Vengeance waits for her, slow
and sure; but she must live, for you need her still.
Sin- must show you the way to her sister Circe, who
lives among the islands of the W^st. To her you
must sail, a weary way, and she shall cleanse you
I'm m your guilt.'

Then all the heroes wept aloud when they heard
the sentence of the oak ; for they knew that a dark
journey lay before them, and years of bitter toil.
And some upbraided the dark witch-woman, and
some said, ' Xay, we are her debtors still ; without
her we should never have won the lleece.' But
most of them bit their lips in silence, for they
feared the witch's spells.

And now the sea grew calmer, and the sun
shone out once more, and the heroes thrust the ship
off the sand-bank, and rowed forward on their weary
course under the guiding of the dark witch-maiden,

inio the wastes of the unknown .sea.

K

130 THE HEROES STORY n

Whither they went I cannot tell, nor how they
came to Circe's isle. Some say that they went to
the westward, and up the Ister 1 stream, and so came
into the Adriatic, dragging their ship over the snowy
Alps. And others say that they went southward,
into the Eed Indian Sea, and past the sunny lands
where spices grow, round ^Ethiopia toward the
West ; and that at last they came to Libya, and
dragged their ship across the burning sands, and
over the hills into the Syrtes, where the flats and
quicksands spread for many a mile, between rich
Gyrene and the Lotus-eaters' shore. But all these
are but dreams and fables, and dim hints of
unknown lands.

But all say that they came to a place where
they had to drag their ship across the land nine
days with ropes and rollers, till they came into an
unknown sea. And the best of all the old songs
tells us how they went away toward the North, till
they came to the slope of Caucasus, where it sinks
into the sea ; and to the narrow Cimmerian Bos-
porus,2 where the Titan swam across upon the
bull; and thence into the lazy waters of the still
Mseotid lake.3 And thence they went northward

1 The Danube. '- Between the Crimea and Circassia.

3 The Sea of Azov.

I-AIM- v T1IK ABGONAUTS 131

ever, uj» tin- Tanais, \vliidi we call Don, past the
(ieloni and Sauromatai, and many a wandering
shepherd-tribe, and tlie one-eyed Arimaspi, of whom
old Greek poets tell, who steal the gold from the
< iriU'ms, in the mid Jlhipaian hills.1

And they passed the Scythian archers, and the
Tuuri who eat men, and the wandering 1 lyperboreoi,
who feed their llocks beneath the pole-star, until
they came into the northern ocean, the dull dead
Cionian Sea.- And there Aryo would move on no
longer; and each man clasped his elbow, and
leaned his head upon his hand, heart-broken with
toil and hunger, and gave himself up to death,
lint brave Ancaios the helmsman cheered up their
hearts once more, and bade them leap on land, and
haul the ship with ropes and rollers for many a
weary day, whether over land, or mud, or ice, I
know not, for the.- sung is mixed and broken like a
dream. And it says next, how they came to the
rich nation of the famous long-lived men; and to
the coast of the Cimmerians, who never saw the
sun, buried deep in the glens of the snow mountains;
and to the fair land of llermione, where dwelt the
most righteous of all nations ; and to the gates of
the world below, and to tin.' dwelling-place of dreams.
1 The Unil .Mountains? 2 Th«' Kilti.

132 THE HEROES STORY u

And at last Ancaios shouted, ' Endure a little
while, brave friends, the worst is surely past ; for I
can see the pure west wind ruffle the water, and
hear the roar of ocean on the sands. So raise up
the mast, and set the sail, and face what comes
like men.'

Then out spoke the magic bough, ' Ah, would
that I had perished long ago, and been whelmed
by the dread blue rocks, beneath the fierce swell of
the Eu.xine ! Better so, than to wander for ever,
disgraced by the guilt of my princes ; for the blood
of Absyrtus still tracks me, and woe follows hard
upon woe. And now some dark horror will clutch
me, if I come near the Isle of lerne.1 Unless you
will cling to the land, and sail southward and
southward for ever, I shall wander beyond the
Atlantic, to the ocean which has no shore.'

Then they blest the magic bough, and sailed
southward along the land. But ere they could
pass lerne, the land of mists and storms, the wild
wind came down, dark and roaring, and caught the
sail, and strained the ropes. And away they drove
twelve nights, on the wide wild western sea, through
the foam, and over the rollers, while they saw
neither sun nor stars. And they cried again, ' We

1 Britain?

PAR! \ THK AR(;ONAUTS 133

shall perish, for we know not where we are. "We
are lost in the dreary damp darkness, and cannot
tell north from south.'

But Lynceus the long-sighted called gaily 1'rom
the bows. 'Take heart again, brave sailors; fur I
see a pine-clad isle, and the halls of the kind
Karth-mothcr, with a crown of clouds around them.'

I'.ut Orpheus said, 'Turn from them, for no
living mini ( an land there: there is no harbour on
the coast, but steep-walled cliffs all round.'

So Ancaios turned the ship away ; and for three
days more they sailed on, till they came to Aiaia,
Circe's home, and the fairy island of the West.1

And there Jason bid them land, and seek about
Ibr any sign of living man. And as they went
inland Circe met them, coming down toward the
ship; and they trembled when they saw her, for
her hair, and face, and robes shone like flame.

And she came and looked at Medeia ; and
Medeia hid her face beneath her veil.

And Circe cried, ' Ah, wretched girl, have you
forgotten all your sins, that you come hither to my
island, where the flowers bloom all the year round?
Where is your aged father, and the brother whom
yon killed ? Little do I expect you to return in

1 Tin- Azores ?

134 THE HEROES STOKY n

safety with these strangers whom you love. I will
send you food and wine : but your ship must not
stay here, for it is foul with sin, and foul with sin
its crew.'

And the heroes prayed her, but in vain, and
cried, ' Cleanse us from our guilt !' But she sent
them away, and said, ' Go on to Malea, and there
you may be cleansed, and return home.'

Then a fair wind rose, and they sailed eastward,
by Tartessus on the Iberian shore, till they came to
the Pillars of Hercules, and the Mediterranean Sea.
And thence they sailed on through the deeps of
Sardinia, and past the Ausonian islands, and the
capes of the Tyrrhenian shore, till they came to a
flowery island, upon a still bright summer's eve.
And as they neared it, slowly and wearily, they
heard sweet songs upon the shore. But when
Medeia heard it, she started, and cried, ' Beware,
all heroes, for these are the rocks of the Sirens.
You must pass close by them, for there is no other
channel ; but those who listen to that song are
lost.'

Then Orpheus spoke, the king of all minstrels,
' Let them match their song against mine. I have
charmed stones, and trees, and dragons, how much
more the hearts of men !' So he caught up his

TIIK AKCONAITS

lyre, mid stood upon tin1 poop. ;ind l,egan his magic

song.

And now they could see the Sirens on Anthe-
moessa, the flowery isle ; three fair maiden- Hiting
on the beach, beneath a red rock in the setting sun,
among beds of crimson poppies and golden asphodel.
Slowly they sung and sleepily, with silver voices,
mild and clear, which >tole over the golden waters,
and into the hearts of all the heroes, in spile of
Orpheus' song.

And all things stayed around and listened ; the
gulls sat in white lines along the rocks; on the
beach great seals lay basking, and kept time with
lazy heads ; while silver shoals of fish came up to
hearken, and whispered as they broke the shining
calm. The Wind overhead hushed his whistling,
as he shepherded his clouds toward the West ; and
the clouds stood in mid blue, and listened dreaming,
like a Hock of golden sheep.

And as the heroes listened, the oars fell from
their hands, and their heads drooped on their
breasts, and they closed their heavy eyes; and they
dreamed of bright still gardens, and of slumbers
under murmuring pines, till all their toil seemed
foolishness, and they thought of their renown no
more.

136 THE HEROES STORY n

Then one lifted his head suddenly, and cried,
' What use in wandering for ever ? Let us stay
here and rest awhile.' And another, ' Let us row
to the shore, and hear the words they sing.' And
another, ' I care not for the words, but for the
music. They shall sing me to sleep, that I may
rest.'

And Butes, the son of Pandion, the fairest of all
mortal men, leapt out and swam toward the shore,
crying, ' I come, I come, fair maidens, to live and
die here, listening to your song.'

Then Medeia clapped her hands together, and
cried, ' Sing louder, Orpheus, sing a bolder strain ;
wake up these hapless sluggards, or none of them
will see the land of Hellas more.'

Then Orpheus lifted his harp, and crashed his
cunning hand across the strings ; and his music and
his voice rose like a trumpet through the still
evening air; into the air it rushed like thunder, till
the rocks rang and the sea ; and into their souls it
rushed like wine, till all hearts beat fast within
their breasts.

And he sung the song of Perseus, how the Gods
led him over land and sea, and how he slew the
loathly Gorgon, and won himself a peerless bride ;
and how he sits now with the Gods upon Olympus,

r.YUT v THE ARGONAUTS i:»7

a shining star in the sky, immortal with his im-
mortal hrii.li.1, and honoured l»y all men below.

So Orpheus sang, and the Sirens, answering each
other across the golden sea, till Orpheus' voice
drowned the Sirens', and the heroes caught their

oars again.

And they cried, 'We will he men like Perseus,
and we will dare and suffer to the last. Sing us
his song again, brave Orpheus, that we may forget
the Sirens and their spell.'

And as Orpheus sang, they dashed their oars into
the sea, and kept time to his music, as they fled
fast awav ; and the Sirens' voices died behind them,

\J 7

in the hissing of the foam along their wake.

Hut Bates swam to the shore, and knelt down
before the Sirens, and cried, 'Sing on! sing on!'
But he could say no more, for a charmed sleep came
over him, and a pleasant humming in his ears ; and
he sank all along upon the pebbles, and forgot all
heaven and earth, and never looked at that sad
beach around him, all strewn with the bones of
men.

Then slowly rose up those three fair sisters, with
a cruel smile upon their lips ; and slowly they crept
down towards him, like leopards who creep upon
their prey ; and their hands were like the talons of

138 THE HEROES STORY n

eagles as they stept across the bones of their victims
to enjoy their cruel feast.

But fairest Aphrodite saw him from the highest
Idalian peak, and she pitied his youth and his
beauty, and leapt up from her golden throne ; and
like a falling star she cleft the sky, and left a trail
of glittering light, till she stooped to the Isle of the
Sirens, and snatched their prey from their claws.
And she lifted Butes as he lay sleeping, and wrapt
him in a golden mist ; and she bore him to the
peak of lilybseum, and he slept there many a
pleasant year.

But when the Sirens saw that they were con-
quered, they shrieked for envy and rage, and leapt
from the beach into the sea, and were changed into
rocks until this day.

Then they came to the straits by Lilybreum, and
saw Sicily, the three-cornered island, under which
Enceladus the giant lies groaning day and night,
and when he turns the earth quakes, and his breath
bursts out in roaring flames from the highest cone
of ^Etna, above the chestnut woods. And there
Charybdis caught them in its fearful coils of wave,
and rolled mast-high about them, and spun them
round and round ; and they could go neither back
nor forward, while the whirlpool sucked them in.

TIIK ARGONAUTS 139

And while tlit-v struggled they saw near them,
mi the other .side the strait, a rock stand in tin-
water, with its ]ieak wrapt round in clouds — a rock
which no man could climb, though lie had twenty
hands and feet, for the stone was smooth and
slippery, as if polished by man's hand ; and half-
way up a misty cave looked out toward the west.

And when Orpheus >;iw it he groaned, and struck
his hands together. And 'Little will it help us,'
he cried, ' to escape the jaws of the whirlpool ; for
in that cave lives Scylla, the sea-hag with a young
whelp's voice; my mother warned me of her ere we
sailed away from Hellas ; she has six heads, and
six long necks, and hides in that dark cleft. And
from her cave she fishes for all things which pass
by — for sharks, and seals, and dolphins, and all
the herds of Amphitrite. And never ship's crew
boasted that they came safe by her rock, for she
bends her long necks down to them, and every
mouth takes up a man. And who will help us
now ? For Hera and Zeus hate us, and our ship is
I'oul with guilt; so we must die, whatever befalls.'

Then out of the depths came Thetis, Peleus'
silver-footed bride, for love of her gallant husband,
and all her nymphs around her; and they played
like snow-white dolphins, diving on from wave to

140 THE HEROES STORY n

wave, before the ship, and in her wake, and beside
her, as dolphins play. And they caught the ship,
and guided her, and passed her on from hand to
hand, and tossed her through the billows, as
maidens toss the ball. And when Scylla stooped
to seize her, they struck back her ravening heads,
and foul Scylla whined, as a whelp whines, at the
touch of their gentle hands. But she shrank into
her cave affrighted — for all bad things shrink from
good — and Aryo leapt safe past her, while a fair breeze
rose behind. Then Thetis and her nymphs sank
down to their coral caves beneath the sea, and their
gardens of green and purple, where live flowers
bloom all the year round ; while the heroes went on
rejoicing, yet dreading what might come next.

After that they rowed on steadily for many a
weary day, till they saw a long high island, and
beyond it a mountain laud. And they searched till
they found a harbour, and there rowed boldly in.
But after awhile they stopped, and wondered, for
there stood a great city on the shore, and temples
and walls and gardens, and castles high in air upon
the cliffs. And on either side they saw a harbour,
with a narrow mouth, but wide within ; and black
ships without number, high and dry upon the
shore.

TAUT v THK AUiiONAlTS 1 II

Then Aneaios, the wise helmsman, spoke, ' \Vhut
new wonder is this * I know all isles, ami harbours,
ami the windings of all seas ; and this should be
Corcyra, where a few wild goat-herds dwell. Hut
whence come these new harbours and vast works of
polished stone ?'

But Jason said, ' They can be no savage people.
We will go in and take our chance.'

So they rowed into the harbour, among a thousand
black-beaked ships, each larger far than Anjo, toward
a quay of polished stone. And they wondered at
that mighty city, with its roofs of burnished brass,
and long and lofty walls of marble, with strong
palisades above. And the quays were full of
people, merchants, and mariners, and slaves, going
to and fro with merchandise among the crowd of
ships. And the heroes' hearts were humbled, and
they looked at each other and said, ' We thought
ourselves a gallant crew when we sailed from lolcos
by the sea ; but how small we look before this city,
like an ant before a hive of bees.'

Then the sailors hailed them roughly from the
quay, ' AVhat men are you ? — we want no strangers
here, nor pirates. AVe keep our business to
ourselves.'

But Jason answered gently, with many a

142 THE HEROES STORY n

flattering word, and praised their city and their
harbour, and their fleet of gallant ships. ' Surely
you are the children of Poseidon, and the masters
of the sea ; and we are but poor wandering mariners,
worn out with thirst and toil. Give us but food
and water, and we will go on our voyage in peace.'

Then the sailors laughed, and answered, ' Stranger,
you are no fool ; you talk like an honest man, and
you shall find us honest too. We are the children
of Poseidon, and the masters of the sea ; but come
ashore to us, and you shall have the best that we
can give.'

So they limped ashore, all stiff and weary, with
long ragged beards and sunburnt cheeks, and
garments torn and weather-stained, and weapons
rusted with the spray, while the sailors laughed at
them (for they were rough-tongued, though their
hearts were frank and kind). And one said, ' These
fellows are but raw sailors ; they look as if they
had been sea -sick all the day.' And another,
'Their legs have grown crooked with much rowing,
till they waddle in their walk like ducks.'

At that Idas the rash would have struck them ;
but Jason held him back, till one of the merchant
kings spoke to them, a tall and stately man.

' Do not be angry, strangers ; the sailor boys

PART v TIIK AKCONAUTS 143

must have their jrst. I'.ut we will treat, you justly
inn! kindly, for strangers and poor men come from
(Joil; and you seem no common sailors liy your
strength, and height, and weapons. Come up with
me to the palace of Alcinous, the rich sea-going
king, and we will feast you well and heartily; and
iit'ter that you shall tell us your name.'

I Jut Medeia hung hack, and trembled, and
whispered in -lasoii's ear, ' AVc are betrayed, and
are going to our ruin, for I see my countrymen
among the crowd; dark-eyed < 'olchi in steel mail-
shirts, such as they wear in my father's land.'

'It is too late to turn,' said Jason. And he
spoke to the merchant king, ' What country is this,
good sir; and what is this new-built town?'

'This is the laud of the 1'ha-aces, beloved by all
the Immortals; for they come hither and feast like
friends with us, and sit by our side in the hall.
Hither we came from Liburnia to escape the
unrighteous Cyclopes; for they robbed us, peaceful
merchants, of our hard-earned wares and wealth.
So Nausithous, the son of Poseidon, brought us
bit her, and died in peace; and now his son Alcinous
rules us, and Areie the wisest of ipiccns.'

So they went up across the square, and wondered
still more as they went ; for along the (plays lay in

144 THE HEROES STORY n

order great cables, and yards, and masts, before the
fair temple of Poseidon, the blue -haired king of
the seas. And round the square worked the ship-
wrights, as many in number as ants, twining ropes,
and hewing timber, and smoothing long yards and
oars. And the Minuai went on in silence through
clean white marble streets, till they came to the
hall of Alcinous, and they wondered then still more.
For the lofty palace shone aloft in the sun, with
walls of plated brass, from the threshold to the
innermost chamber, and the doors were of silver
and gold. And on each side of the doorway sat
living clogs of gold, who never grew old or died, so
well Hephaistos had made them in his forges in
smoking Lemnos, and gave them to Alcinous to
guard his gates by night. And within, against the
walls, stood thrones on either side, down the whole
length of the hall, strewn with rich glossy shawls ;
and on them the merchant kings of those crafty
sea-roving Phseaces sat eating and drinking in pride,
and feasting there all the year round. And boys of
molten gold stood each on a polished altar, and held
torches in their hands, to give light all night to the
guests. And round the house sat fifty maid-
servants, some grinding the meal in the mill, some
turning the spindle, some weaving at the loom,

PAKT v THE ARGONAUTS M5

while their hands twinkh-il as they passed the
shuttle, like quivering aspen leaves.

And outside before the palace a great garden was
walled round, tilled full of stately fruit-trees, gray
olives and sweet figs, and pomegranates, pears, and
apples, which bore the whole year round. For the
rich south-west wind fed them, till pear grew ripe on
pear, fig on fig, and grape on grape, all the winter
and the spring. And at the farther end gay flower-
beds bloomed through all seasons of the year; and
two fair fountains rose, and ran, one through the
garden grounds, and one beneath the palace gate, to
water all the town. Such noble gifts the heavens
had given to Alcinous the wise.

So they went in, and saw him sitting, like
Poseidon, on his throne, with his golden sceptre by
him, in garments stiff with gold, and in his hand a
sculptured goblet, as he pledged the merchant kings ;
and beside him stood Arete, his wise and lovely
queen, and leaned against a pillar as she spun her
golden threads.

Then Alcinous rose, and welcomed them, and
bade them sit and eat ; and the servants
brought them tables, and bread, and meat, and

o

wine.

But Medeia went on trembling toward Arete tin-

146 THE HEROES STORY n

fair queen, and fell at her knees, and clasped them,
and cried, weeping, as she knelt-

' I am your guest, fair queen, and I entreat you
by Zeus, from whom prayers come. Do not send •
me back to my father to die some dreadful death ;
but let me go my way, and bear my burden. Have
I not had enough of punishment and shame ? '

' Who are you, strange maiden ? and what is the
meaning of your prayer ? '

' I am Medeia, daughter of Aietes, and I saw my
countrymen here to-day ; and I know that they are
come to find me, and take me home to die some
dreadful death.'

Then Arete frowned, and said, * Lead this girl in,
my maidens ; and let the kings decide, not I.'

And Alcinous leapt up from his throne, and cried,
' Speak, strangers, who are you ? And who is this
maiden ?'

' We are the heroes of the Minuai,' said Jason ;
'and this maiden has spoken truth. We are the
men who took the golden fleece, the men whose
fame has run round every shore. We came hither
out of the ocean, after sorrows such as man never
saw before. We went out many, and come back
few, for many a noble comrade have we lost. So
let us go, as you should let your guests go, in

PART v T1IK AKcoNATTS 1 17

peace ; thiit the world in;iy say, " Alcinous is a just
king."'

lint Alcinous fr<>\vni'<l, and stood dec}) in thought;
and at last lie spoke—

'Had not tlic deed been done which is done, I
sliould have said this day to myself, " It is an
honour to Alcinous, and to his children after him,
that the far-famed Argonauts are his guests." But
these Colchi are my guests, as you are ; and for this
month they have waited herewith all their fleet, for
they have hunted all the seas of Hellas, and could
not find you, and dared neither go farther, nor go
home.'

' Let them choose out their champions, and we
will light them, man for man.'

' Xo guests of ours shall light upon our island,
and it' you go outside they will outnumber you. I
will do justice between you, for 1 know and do
what is right.'

Then he turned to his kings, and said, 'This
may stand over till to-morrow. To-night we will
feast our guests, and hear the story of all their
wanderings, and how they came hither out of the
ocean.'

So Alcinous hade the servants take the heroes
in, and bathe them, and MJVC them clothes. And

148 THE HEROES STORY n

they were glad when, they saw the warm water, for
it was long since they had bathed. And they
washed off the sea -salt from their limbs, and
anointed themselves from head to foot with oil, and
combed out their golden hair. Then they came
back again into the hall, while the merchant kings
rose up to do them honour. And each man said
to his neighbour, ' No wonder that these men won
fame. -How they stand now like Giants, or Titans,
or Immortals come down from Olympus, though
many a winter has worn them, and many a fearful
storm. What must they have been when they
sailed from lolcos, in the bloom of their youth,
long ago ? '

Then they went out to the garden ; and the
merchant princes said, ' Heroes, run races with us.
Let us see whose feet are nimblest.'

' We cannot race against you, for our limbs are
stiff from sea ; and we have lost our two swift
comrades, the sons of the north wind. But do not
think us cowards : if you wish to try our strength,
we will shoot, and box, and wrestle, against any
men on earth.'

And Alcinous smiled, and answered, ' I believe
you, gallant guests ; with your long limbs and
broad shoulders, we could never match you here.

I-XKT v TIIK AKcuXAUTS 149

For we care nothing here for boxing, or for shooting
with the bow; but for feasts, and songs, and harp-
ing, and dancing, and running races, to stretch our
limbs on shore.'

So they danced there and ran races, the jolly
merchant kings, till the night fell, and all went in.

And then they ate and drank, and comforted
their weary souls, till Alcinous called a herald, and
bade him go and fetch the harper.

The herald went out, and fetched the harper, and
led him in by the hand ; and Alcinous cut him a
piece of meat, from the fattest of the haunch, and
sent it to him, and said, ' Sing to us, noble harper,
and rejoice the heroes' hearts.'

So the harper played and sang, while the dancers
danced strange figures ; and after that the tumblers
showed their tricks, till the heroes laughed

again.

Then, ' Tell me, heroes,' asked Alcinous, ' you
who have sailed the ocean round, and seen the
manners of all nations, have you seen such dancers
as ours here, or heard such music and such singing ?
We hold ours to be the best on earth.'

' Such dancing we have never seen,' said
Orpheus; 'and your singer is a happy man, for
Phoebus himself must have taught him, or else he

150 THE HEROES STORY n

is the son of a Muse, as I am also, and have sung
once or twice, though not so well as he.'

' Sing to us, then, noble stranger,' said Alcinous ;
' and we will give you precious gifts.'

So Orpheus took his magic harp, and sang to
them a stirring song of their voyage from lolcos,
and their dangers, and how they won the golden
fleece ; and of Medeia's love, and how she helped
them, and went with them over land and sea ; and
of all their fearful dangers, from monsters, and rocks,
and storms, till the heart of Arete \vas softened,
and all the women wept. And the merchant kings
rose up, each man from off his golden throne, and
clapped their hands, and shouted, ' Hail to the
noble Argonauts, who sailed the unknown sea ! '

Then he went on, and told their journey over the
sluggish northern main, and through the shoreless
outer ocean, to the fairy island of the west ; and of
the Sirens, and Scylla, and Charybdis, and all the
wonders they had seen, till midnight passed and the
day dawned ; but the kings never thought of sleep.
Each man sat still and listened, with his chin upon
his hand.

And at last, when Orpheus had ended, they all
went thoughtful out, and the heroes lay down to
sleep, beneath the sounding porch outside, where

PAETV Ti I K ARGONAUTS 151

Arete li;n I stiv\vu tin-in rugs and carpets, in the
sweet still summer night.

Hut Arete pleaded hard with her husliaud fur
Medeia, for her heart was softened. And she said,
'The Gods will punish her, not we. Alter all, she
is our ^iiest and my suppliant, and prayers are the
daughters of Zeus. And who, too, dare part man
and wife, after all they have endured together?'

And Aleinous smiled. 'The minstrel's song has
charmed you: hut I must remember what is right,
for songs cannot alter justice; and I must he faithful
to my name. Aleinous I am called, the man of
sturdy sense ; and Aleinous 1 will he.' But for
all that Arete besought him, until she won him
round.

So next morning he sent a herald, and called the
kings into the square, and said, 'This is a puzzling
matter: remember but one thing. These Minuai
live close by us, and we may meet them often on
the seas; but Aietes lives afar oil', and we have
only heard his name. Which, then, of the two is
it safer to offend — the men near us, or the men
far off ? '

The princes laughed, and praised his wisdom ;
and Aleinous called the heroes to the square, and
the Colchi also ; and they came and stood opposite

152 THE HEROES STORY n

each other, but Medeia stayed in the palace. Then
Alcinous spoke, ' Heroes of the Colchi, what is your
errand about this lady ? '

' To carry her home with us, that she may die a
shameful death ; but if we return without her, we
must die the death she should have died.'

' What say you to this, Jason the ^Eolid ? ' said
Alcinous, turning to the Minuai.

' I say,' said the cunning Jason, ' that they are
come here on a bootless errand. Do you think
that you can make her follow you, heroes of the
Colchi — her, who knows all spells and charms?
She will cast away your -ships on quicksands, or
call down on you Brimo the wild huntress ; or the

\J i

chains will fall from off her wrists, and she will
escape in her dragon-car ; or if not thus, some other
way, for she has a thousand plans and wiles. And
why return home at all, brave heroes, and face the
long seas again, and the Bosporus, and the stormy
Euxine, and double all your toil ? ' There is many
a fair land round these coasts, which waits for
gallant men like you. Better to settle there, and
build a city, and let Aietes and Colchis help
themselves.'

Then a murmur rose among the Colchi, and some
cried ' He has spoken well ; ' and some, ' We have

I-AUT v THK ARGONAUTS 153

had enmi'Ji of roving, we \\ill sail the seas no more!'
Ami tin- chief said at la<l. ' I'.e it so, then ; H plague
she* has been to us, and a plague to the house of her
father, and a plague she will lie to you. Take her,
since you are no wiser: and we will sail away
toward the north.'

Then Alcinous gave them food, and water, and
garments, and rich presents of all sorts ; and he
gave the same to the Minuai, and sent them all
away in peace.

So Jason kept the dark witch-maiden to breed
him woe and shame ; and the Colchi went north-
ward into the Adriatic, and settled, and built towns
along the shore.

Then the heroes rowed away to the eastward, to
reach Hellas, their beloved land ; but a storm came
down upon them, and swept them far away toward
the south. And they rowed till they were spent
with struggling, through the darkness and the
blinding rain ; but where they were they could not
tell, and they gave up all hope of life. And at last
they touched the ground, and when daylight came
they waded to the shore ; and saw nothing round
but sand and desolate salt pools, for they had come
to the quicksands of the Syrtis, and the dreary
treeless flats which lie between Xumidia and Cyrene,

154 THE HEROES STOUY n

on the burning shore of Africa. And there they
wandered starving for many a weary day, ere they
could launch their ship again, and gain the Open
sea. And there Canthus was killed, while he was
trying to drive off sheep, by a stone which a
herdsman threw.

And there too Mopsus died, the seer who knew
the voices of all birds ; but he could not foretell
his own end, for he was bitten in the foot by a
snake, one of those which sprang from the Gorgon's
head when Perseus carried it across the sands.

At last they rowed away toward the northward,
for many a weary day, till their water was spent,
and their food eaten ; and they were worn out with
hunger and thirst. But at last they saw a long
steep island, and a blue peak high among the
clouds ; and they knew it for the peak of Ida, and
the famous land of Crete. And they said, ' We
will land in Crete, and see Minos the just king,
and all his glory and his wealth ; at least he will
treat us hospitably, and let us fill our water-casks
upon the shore.'

But when they came nearer to the island they
saw a wondrous sight upon the cliffs. Tor on a
cape to the westward stood a giant, taller than any
mountain pine, who glittered aloft against the sky

IAKI v THE AROONAUTS I;".

like a tower of burnislied brass. He turned and
looked on all sides round him, till he saw the Aryo
and her crew ; and when he saw them he eame
toward them, more swiftly than the swiftest horse,
leaping across the glens at a bound, and striding at
mie step from down to down. And when he came
abreast of them he brandished his arms up and
down, as a ship hoists and lowers her yards, and
shouted with his bra/en throat like a trumpet from
off the hills, 'You are pirates, you are robbers I Ff
you dare land here, you die.'

Then the heroes cried, ' We are no pirates.
\Ve are all good men and true, and all we ask is
food and water ; ' but the giant cried the more—

'You are robbers, you are pirates all; 1 know
you ; and if you land, you shall die the death.'

Then he waved his arms again as a signal, and
they saw the people flying inland, driving their
flocks before them, while a great ilame arose among
the hills. Then the giant ran up a valley and
vanished, and the heroes lay on their oars in fear.

But Medeia stood watching all from under her
steep black brows, with a cunning smile upon her
lips, and a cunning plot within her heart. At la.-t
she spoke, ' I know this giant. I heard of him in
the East. Hephaistos the, Fire King made him in

156 THE HEROES STORY 11

his forge in ./Etna beneath the earth, and called
him Talus, and gave him to Minos for a servant, to
guard the coast of Crete. Thrice a day he walks
round the island, and never stops to sleep ; and if
strangers land he leaps into his furnace, which
flames there among the hills ; and when he is
red-hot he rushes on them, and burns them in his
brazen hands.'

Then all the heroes cried, ' What shall we do,
wise Medeia ? We must have water, or we die of
thirst. Flesh and blood we can face fairly; but
who can face this red-hot brass ?'

' I can face red-hot brass, if the tale I hear be
true. For they say that he has but one vein in
all his body, filled with liquid fire ; and that this
vein is closed with a nail : but I know not where
that nail is placed. But if I can get it once into
these hands, you shall water your ship here in peace.'

Then she bade them put her on shore, and row
off again, and wait what would befall.

And the heroes obeyed her unwillingly, for they
were ashamed to leave her so alone ; but Jason
said, ' She is dearer to me than to any of you, yet
I will trust her freely on shore ; she has more plots
than we can dream of in the windings of that fair
and cunning head.'

PART v Till'- AKCUNA1 Da 1.'7

So they left the witch-maiden on the shore; and

she stood there in her beauty all alone, till the

• daiit strode hack ivil-hut t'roni head to heel, while

o

the grass hissed and smoked beneath his tread.

And when he saw the maiden alone, lie stopped;
and she looked boldly up into his fare without
moving, and began her magic song:—

• Life is short, though life is sweet; and even
men of brass and lire muM die. The brass must
rust, the fire must cool, for time gnaws all things
in their turn. Life is short, though life is sweet:
but sweeter to live for ever; sweeter to live ever
youthful like the Gods, who have ichor in their
veins — ichor which gives life, and youth, and joy,
and a bounding heart.'

Then Talus said, ' Who are you, strange maiden,
and where is this ichor of youth ?'

Then Medeia held up a ilask of crystal, and
said, 'Here is the ichor of youth. [ am Medeia
the enchantress ; my sister Circe gave me this,
and said, "Go and reward Talus, the faithful
servant, for his fame is gone out into all lands."
So come, and I will pour this into your veins, that
you may live for ever young.'

And he listened to her false words, that simple
Talus, and came near; and Medeia said, ' I>ip

158 THE HEROES STORY n

yourself in the sea first, and cool yourself, lest you
burn my tender hands ; then show me where the
nail in your vein is, that I may pour the ichor in.'

Then that simple Talus dipped himself in the
sea, till it hissed, and roared, and smoked ; and
came and knelt before Medeia, and showed her the
secret nail.

And she drew the nail out gently, but she
poured no ichor in; and instead the liquid fire
spouted forth, like a stream of red-hot iron. And
Talus tried to leap up, crying, ' You have betrayed
me, false witch-maiden I' But she lifted up her
hands before him, and sang, till he sank beneath
her spell. And as he sank, his brazen limbs
clanked heavily, and the earth groaned beneath his
weight ; and the liquid fire ran from his heel, like
a stream of lava, to the sea ; and Medeia laughed,
and called to the heroes, ' Come ashore, and water
your ship in peace.'

So they came, and found the giant lying dead ;
and they fell down, and kissed Medeia's feet; and
watered their ship, and took sheep and oxen, and
so left that inhospitable shore.

At last, after many more adventures, they came
to the Cape of Malea, at the south-east point of
the Peloponnese. And there they offered sacrifices,

|..\KT v TIIK AKCONAITS 159

and ( h-pheiis purged them from their guilt. Thou
they rode away again to tlie northward, past the
I.aronian shore, and came all worn and tired by
Suiiiuin. and up the long Eubcean Strait, until they
saw once more IVlion. and Aphetai, and lolcos by
the sea.

And they ran the ship ashore; but they had no
strength left to haul her up the beach; and they
crawled out on the pebbles, and sat down, and wept
till they could weep no more. For the houses and
the trees were all altered ; and all the faces which
they saw wen- strange; and their joy was
swallowed up in sorrow, while they thought of
their youth, and all their labour, and the gallant
comrades they had lost.

And the people crowded round, and asked them,
' Who are you, that you sit weeping here ?'

• \\V an- the sons of your princes, who sailed out
many a year ago. We went to fetch the golden
fleece, and we have brought it, and grief therewith,
(live us news of our fathers and our mothers, if any
of them be left alive on earth.'

Then there was shouting, and laughing, and
weeping: and all the kings came to the shore, and
they led away the heroes to their homes, and
bewailed the valiant dead.

160 THE HEROES STORY n

Then Jason went up with Medeia to the palace
of his uncle Pelias. And when he came in Felias
sat by the hearth, crippled and blind with age ;
while opposite him sat ^Eson, Jason's father, crippled
and blind likewise ; and the two old men's heads
shook together as they tried to warm themselves
before the fire.

And Jason fell down at his father's knees, and
wept, and called him by his name. And the old
man stretched his hands out, and felt him, and said,
' Do not mock me, young hero. My son Jason is
dead long ago at sea.'

' I am your own son Jason, whom you trusted to
the Centaur upon Pelion ; and I have brought home
the golden fleece, and a princess of the Sun's race
for my bride. So now give me up the kingdom,
Pelias my uncle, and fulfil your promise as I have
fulfilled mine.'

Then his father clung to him like a child, and
wept, and would not let him go ; and cried, ' Now
I shall not go down lonely to my grave. Promise
me never to leave me till I die.'

PAKT VI

WHAT WAS THE END OF THE HEROES

AND now I wish that I could end my story
pleasantly; but it is no fault of mine that I cannot.
The old songs end it sadly, and I believe that they
are right and wise; for though the heroes were

O ' O

purified at Malea, yet sacrifices cannot make bad
hearts good, and Jason had taken a wicked wife,
and he had to bear his burden to the last.

And first she laid a cunning plot to punish that
poor old Pelias, instead of letting him die in peace.

For she told his daughters, ' I can make old
things young again ; I will show you how easy it is
to do.' So she took an old ram and killed him,
and put him in a cauldron with magic herbs; and
whispered her spells over him, and he leapt out
again a young lamb. So that 'Medeia's cauldron'
is a proverb still, by which we mean times of war

and change, when the world has become old and

M

152 THE HEROES STORY n

feeble, and grows young again through bitter
pains.

Then she said to Pelias' daughters, ' Do to your
father as I did to this ram, and he will grow young
and strong again.' But she only told them half
the spell ; so they failed, while Medeia mocked them ;
and poor old Pelias died, and his daughters came to
misery. But the songs say she cured ^Eson, Jason's
father, and he became young and strong again.

But Jason could not love her, after all her cruel
deeds. So he was ungrateful to her, and wronged
her ; and she revenged herself on him. And a
terrible revenge she took — too terrible to speak of
here. But you will hear of it yourselves when you
grow up, for it has been sung in noble poetry and
music; and whether it be true or not, it stands for'
ever as a warning to us not to seek for help from
evil persons, or to gain good ends by evil means.
For if we use an adder even against our enemies, it
will turn again and sting us.

But of all the other heroes there is many a brave
tale left, which I have no space to tell you, so you
must read them for yourselves ; — of the hunting of
the boar in Calydon, wThich Meleager killed ; and
of Heracles' twelve famous labours ; and of the
seven who fought at Thebes ; and of the noble love

I'AKT vi Till: AKCOX.UTS 163

of Castor and Poly deuces, the twin Dioscouroi — how
when one died the other would not live without
him, so they shared their immortality between
them; and Zeus changed them into the two twin
stars which never rise both at once.

And what became of Cheiron, the good immortal
beast? That, too, is a sad story; for the heroes
aever saw him more. He was wounded by a
poisoned arrow, at 1'holoe among the hills, when
Heracles opened the fatal wine-jar, which Cheiron
had warned him not to touch. And the Centaurs
smelt the wine, and Hocked to it, and fought for it
with Heracles; but he killed them all with his
poisoned arrows, and Cheiron was left alone. Then
Cheiron took up one of the arrows, and dropped it
by chance upon his foot ; and the poison ran like
fire along his veins, and he lay down and longed to
die ; and cried, ' Through wine I perish, the bane of
all my race. Why should I live for ever in this
agony? \Vho will take my immortality, that I may
die?'

Then Prometheus answered, the good Titan,
whom Heracles had set free from Caucasus, 'I will
take your immortality and live for ever, that I may
help poor mortal men.' So Cheiron gave him his
immortality, and died, and had rest from pain. And

164 THE HEROES STORY n

Heracles and Prometheus wept over him, and went
to bury him on Pelion ; but Zeus took him up
among the stars, to live for ever, grand and mild,
low down in the far southern sky.

And in time the heroes died, all but Nestor, the
silver-tongued old man; and left behind them
valiant sons, but not so great as they had been.
Yet their fame, too, lives till this day, for they
fought at the ten years' siege of Troy : and their
story is in the book which we call Homer, in two
of the noblest songs on earth — the 'Iliad,' which tells
us of the siege of Troy, and Achilles' quarrel with
the kings ; and the ' Odyssey,' which tells the
wanderings of Odysseus, through many lands for
many years, and how Alciuous sent him home at
last, safe to Ithaca his beloved island, and to
Penelope his faithful wife, and Telemachus his son,
and Euphorbus the noble swineherd, and the old
dog who licked his hand and died. We will read
that sweet story, children, by the fire some winter
night. And now I will end my tale, and begin
another and a more cheerful one, of a hero who
became a worthy king, and won his people's love.

STORY IIL-TIIESEUS

PAKT I

HOW THESEUS LIFTED THE STONE

ONCE upon a lime there was a princess in Troezene,
A it lira, the daughter of Pittheus the king. She had
one fair son, named Theseus, the bravest lad in all
the land ; and Aithra never smiled but when she
looked at him, for her husband had forgotten her,
and lived far away. And she used to go up to the
mountain above Trte/.eue, to the temple of Poseidon
and sit there all day looking out across the bay, over
Mrthana, to the purple peaks of ^Egina and the
Attic shore beyond. And when Theseus was full
fifteen years old she took him up with her to the
temple, and into the thickets of the grove which
grew in the temple-yard. And she led him to a
tall plane-tire, beneath whose shade grew arbutus,
and lentisk, and purple heather-bushes. And there

166 THE HEROES STORY in

she sighed, and said, ' Theseus, my son, go into that
thicket, and you will find at the plane-tree foot a
great flat stone ; lift it, and bring me what lies
underneath.'

Then Theseus pushed his way in through the thick
bushes, and saw that they had not been moved for
many a year. And searching among their roots he
found a great flat stone, all overgrown with ivy, and
acanthus, and moss. He tried to lift it, but he
could not. And he tried till the sweat ran down
his brow from heat, and the tears from his eyes for
shame ; but all was of no avail. And at last he
came back to his mother, and said, ' I have found
the stone, but I cannot lift it ; nor do I think that
any man could in all Trcezene.'

Then she sighed, and said, ' The Gods wait long ;
but they are just at last. Let it be for another
year. The day may come when you will be a
stronger man than lives in all Trcezene.'

Then she took him by the hand, and went into
the temple and prayed, and came down again with
Theseus to her home.

And when a full year was past she led Theseus
up again to the temple, and bade him lift the stone;
but he could not.

Then she sighed, and said the same words again,

T i THESEUS 1<;7

and went down, and came again the next year; but
Theseus could not lift the stone then, nor tin- year
after ; and lie longed to ask his mother the mean-
ing of that stone, and what might lit; underneath it;
but her face was so sad that he had not the heart
to ask.

So he said to himself, ' The day shall surely
come when 1 will lift that stone, though no man in
Treezeue can.' And in order to grow strong he
spent all his days in wrestling, and boxing, and
hurling, and taming horses, and hunting the boar
and the bull, and coursing goats and deer among the
rocks ; till upon all the mountains there was no
hunter so swift as Theseus ; and he killed 1'haia the
wild sow of Crommyon, which wasted all the land ;
till all the people said, ' Surely the Gods are with
the lad.'

And when his eighteenth year was past, Aithra
led him up again to the temple, and said, ' Theseus,
lift the stone this day, or never know who you are.'
And Theseus went into the thicket, and stood over
the stone, and tugged at it ; and it moved. Then
his spirit swelled within him, and he said, ' If I
break my heart in my body, it shall up.' And he
tugged at it once more, and lifted it, and rolled it
over with a shout.

168 THE HEROES STORY in

And when he looked beneath it, on the ground
lay a sword of bronze, with a hilt of glittering gold,
and by it a pair of golden sandals ; and he caught
them up, and burst through the bushes like a wild
boar, and leapt to his mother, holding them high
above his head.

But when she saw them she wept long in silence,
hiding her fair face in her shawl ; and Theseus
stood by her wondering, and wept also, he knew
not why. And when she was tired of weeping she
lifted up her head, and laid her finger on her lips,
and said, ' Hide them in your bosom, Theseus my
son, and come with me where we can look down
upon the sea.'

Then they went outside the sacred wall, and
looked down over the bright blue sea ; and Aithra
said —

'Do you see this land at our feet ?'

And he said, ' Yes ; this is Troazene, where I
was born and bred.'

And she said, ' It is but a little land, barren
and rocky, and looks towards the bleak north-east.
Do you see that land beyond ? '

' Yes ; that is Attica, where the Athenian people
dwell.'

' That is a fair laud and large, Theseus my son ;

PART I THESEUS 169

and it looks toward the sunny south; a land of
olive-oil and honey, the joy of (Jods and men. For

the Gods have girdled it with mountains, whose
veins are of pure silver, and their hones of marble

170 THE HEROES STORY in

white as snow ; and there the hills are sweet with
thyme and basil, and the meadows with violet and
asphodel, and the nightingales sing all day in the
thickets, by the side of ever- flowing streams. There
are twelve towns well peopled, the homes of an
ancient race, the children of Kekrops the serpent-
king, the son of Mother Earth, who wear gold cicalas
among the tresses of their golden hair ; for like the
cicalas they sprang from the earth, and like the cicalas
they sing all day, rejoicing in the genial sun.
What would you do, son Theseus, if you were king
of such a land ? '

Then Theseus stood astonished, as he looked
across the broad bright sea, and saw the fair Attic
shore, from Sunium to Hymettus and Pentelicus,
and all the mountain peaks which girdle Athens
round. But Athens itself he could not see, for
purple ^gina stood before it, midway across the sea:

Then his heart grew great within him, and he
said, ' If 1 were king of such a land I would rule
it wisely and well in wisdom and in might, that
when I died all men might weep over my tomb, and
cry, " Alas for the shepherd of his people ! "

And Aithra smiled, and said, ' Take, then, the
sword and the sandals, and go to ^Egeus, king of
Athens, who lives on Pallas' hill ; and say to him,

TIIKSKl'S 171

"The stone is lifted, but whose is the pledge beneath
it ^ " Then show him the sword and the sandals.
and take what the Gods shall send.'

JUit Theseus wept, ' Shall F leave yon, 0 my
mother ? '

lint she answered, ' "Weep not for me. That
which is fated must be ; and grief is easy to those
who do nought but grieve. Full of sorrow was my
youth, and full of sorrow my womanhood. Full
of sorrow was my youth for Bellerophon, the slayer
of the ChiiiKiTa, whom my father drove away by
treason; and full of sorrow my womanhood, for thy
treacherous father and for thce ; and full of sorrow
my old age will be (for I see my fate in dreams),
when the sons of the Swan shall carry me captive
to the hollow vale of Eurotas, till I sail across the
seas a slave, the handmaid of the pest of Greece.
Yet shall I be avenged, when the golden-haired
heroes sail against Troy, and sack the palaces of
Ilium; then thy son shall set me free from thraldom,
and I shall hear the tale of Theseus' fame. Yet
beyond that I see new sorrow's ; but I can bear them
as I have borne the past.'

Then she kissed Theseus, and wept over him ;
and went into the temple, and Theseus saw her n<>
more.

PAET II

HOW THESEUS SLEW THE DEVOURERS OF MEN

So Theseus stood there alone, with his mind full of
many hopes. And first he thought of going down
to the harbour and hiring a swift ship, and sailing
across the Lay to Athens ; but even that seemed too
slow for him, and he longed for wings to fly across
the sea, and find his father. But after a while his
heart began to fail him ; and he sighed, and said
within himself—

' What if my father have other sons about him
whom he loves ? What if he will not receive me ?
And what have I done that he should receive me ?
He has forgotten me ever since I was born : why
should he welcome me now ?'

Then he thought a long while sadly ; and at the
last he cried aloud, ' Yes ! I will make him love
me ; for I will prove myself worthy of his love. I
will win honour and renown, and do such deeds that

PARTI! TIIKSKTS 173

.V'-riis shall be proud of me, though he had fifty
other suns! Did not Heracles \\iii himself honour.
though he was opprest, and the slave of Ktirystheus ?
1 >id he not kill all robbers and evil beasts, and drain
great lakes and marshes, breaking the hills through
with his dub ? Therefore it was that all men hon-
oured him, because he rid them of their miseries, and
made life pleasant to them and their children after
them. Where can I go, to do as Heracles has done ?
Where can L find strange adventures, robbers, and
monsters, and the children of hell, the enemies of
men ? I will go by land, and into the mountains,
and round by the way of the Isthmus. Perhaps
there I may hear of brave adventures, and do some-
thing which shall win my father's love.'

So he went by land, and away into the mountains,
with his father's sword upon his thigh, till he came
to the Spider mountains, which hang over Kpidaurus
and the sea, where the glens run downward from one
peak in the midst, as the rays spread in the spider's
web.

And he went up into the gloomy glens, between
the furrowed marble walls, till the lowland grew blue
beneath his feet and the clouds drove damp about
his head.

P>ut he went up and up for ever, through the

174 THE HEROES STORY in

spider's web of glens, till he could see the narrow
gulfs spread below him, north and south, and east
and west ; black cracks half-choked with mists, and
above all a dreary down.

But over that down he must go, for there was no
road right or left ; so he toiled on through bog and
brake, till he came to a pile of stones.

And on the stones a man was sitting, wrapt in a
bearskin cloak. The head of the bear served him
for a cap, and its teeth grinned white around his
brows ; and the feet were tied about his throat, and
their claws shone white upon his chest. And when
he saw Theseus he rose, and laughed till the glens
rattled.

' And who art thou, fair fly, who hast walked into
the spider's web ? ' But Theseus walked on steadily,
and made no answer ; but he thought, ' Is this some
robber ? and has an adventure come already to me?'
But the strange man laughed louder than ever, and
said —

' Bold fly, know you not that these glens are the
web from which no fly ever finds his way out again,
and this down the spider's house, and I the spider
who sucks the flies ? Come hither, and let me feast
upon you ; for it is of no use to run away, so cun-
ning a web has niy father Hephaistos spread for me

PART II TIIKSKUS 175

when IK- made these clefts in the mountains, through
which no man iiiuls his way home.

I'.ut Theseus came on steadily, and asked—

'And what is your name among men, bold spider?
and where are your spider's fangs?'

Then the strange man laughed again —

• My name is 'IVriphetes, the son of Hephaistos
and Anticleia the mountain nymph. 1'ut men call
me Corynetes the club -hearer; and here is my
spider's fang.'

And he lifted from off the stones at his side a
mighty club of bronze.

' This my father gave me, and forged it himself
in the roots of the mountain ; and with it I pound
all proud flies till they give out their fatness and
their sweetness. So give me up that gay sword of
yours, and your mantle, and your golden sandals, lest
I pound you, and by ill-luck you die.'

But Theseus wrapt his mantle round his left arm
quickly, in hard folds, from his shoulder to his hand,
and drew his sword, and rushed upon the club-
bearer, and the club-bearer rushed on him.

Thrice he struck at Theseus, and made him bend
under the blows like a sapling; but Theseus guarded
his head with his left arm, and the mantle which
was wrapt around it.

176 THE HEROES STORY in

And thrice Theseus sprang upright after the blow,
like a sapling when the storm is past ; and he
stabbed at the club-bearer with his sword, but the
loose folds of the bearskin saved him.

Then Theseus grew mad, and closed with him,
and caught him by the throat, and they fell and
rolled over together ; but when Theseus rose up
from the ground the club-bearer lay still at his feet.

Then Theseus took his club and his bearskin, and
left him to the kites and crows, and went upon his
journey down the glens on the farther slope, till he
came to a broad green valley, and saw flocks and
herds sleeping beneath the trees.

And by the side of a pleasant fountain, under the
shade of rocks and trees, were nymphs and shep-
herds dancing ; but no one piped to them while they
danced.

And when they saw Theseus they shrieked ; and
the shepherds ran off, and drove away their flocks,
while the nymphs dived into the fountain like coots,
and vanished.

Theseus wondered and laughed : ' What strange
fancies have folks here who run away from strangers,
and have no music when they dance ! ' But he
was tired, and dusty, and thirsty ; so he thought no
more of them, but drank and bathed in the clear

PART ii TI1KSK1S 177

pool, and thru lay down in tin.' shade iindi-r a plane-
tree, while the water sang him to sleep, as it tinkled
down from stone to stone.

And when he woke he heard a whispering, and
saw the nymphs peeping at him across the fountain
from the dark mouth of a cave, where they sat on
green cushions of moss. And one said, ' Surely he
is not IVriplu-tes ; ' and another, 'He looks like no
robber, but a fair and gentle youth.'

Then Theseus smiled, and called them, ' Fair
nymphs, I am not IVriphetes. He sleeps among
the kites and crows; but I have brought away his
bearskin and his club.'

Then they leapt across the pool, and came to him,
and called the shepherds back. And he told them
how he had slain the club-bearer : and the shep-
herds kissed his feet and sang, ' Now we shall feed
our flocks in peace, and not be afraid to have music
when we dance ; for the cruel club-bearer has met
his match, and he will listen for our pipes no more.'

Then they brought him kid's flesh and wine, and
the nymphs brought him honey from the rocks,
and lie ate, and drank, and slept again, while the
nymphs and shepherds danced and sang. And when
he woke, they begged him to stay ; but he would
not. ' I have a great work to do,' he said ; ' I

178 THE HEROES STORY in

must be away toward the Isthmus, that I may go
to Athens.'

But the shepherds said, ' Will you go alone
toward Athens ? None travel that way now, except
in armed troops.'

' As for arms, I have enough, as you see. And
as for troops, an honest man is good enough company
for himself. Why should I not go alone toward
Athens ?'

' If you do, you must look warily about you on
the Isthmus, lest you meet Siuis the robber, whom
men call Fituocamptes the pine-bender ; for he bends
down two pine-trees, and binds all travellers hand
and foot between them, and when he lets the trees
go again their bodies are torn in sunder.'

'And after that,' said another, 'you must go
inland, and not dare to pass over the cliffs of Sciron ;
fur on the left hand are the mountains, and on the
right the sea, so that you have no escape, but must
needs meet Sciron the robber, who will make you
wash his feet ; and while you are washing them he
will kick you over the cliff, to the tortoise who lives
below, and feeds upon the bodies of the dead.'

And before Theseus could answer, another cried,
' And after that is a worse danger still, unless you
go inland always, and leave Eleusis far on your

I-AUT ir THKSKUS 179

ri'dit. For in Kleusis rules Kerknon the cruel

O

king, tin- terror of ;ill mortals, who killed his own
daughter Alope in prison. I'.ut sin- was changed
into a fair fountain ; and her child he cast out upon
the mountains, but the wild mares gave it milk.
And now he challenges all comers to wrestle with
him, for he is the best wrestler in all Attica, and
overthrows all who come; and those whom he over-
throws he murders miserably, and his palace-court
is full of their bones.'

Then Theseus frowned, and said, ' This seems
indeed an ill-ruled land, and adventures enough in
it to be tried. ]>ut if 1 am the heir of it, I will
rule it and right it, and here is my royal sceptre.'
And he -hook his club of bronze, while the nymphs
.and shepherds clung round him, and entreated him
not to go.

I'.ut on he went nevertheless, till he could see
Loth the seas and the citadel of Corinth towering
high above all the laud. And he past swiftly along
the Isthmus, for his heart burned to meet that cruel
Sinis ; and in a pine-wood at last he met him, where
the Isthmus was narrowest and the road ran between
high rocks. There he sat upon a stone by the way-
side, with a young fir-tree for a club across his
knees, and a cord laid ready by his side ; and over

180 THE HEROES STOUY in

his head, upon the fir-tops, hung the bones of
murdered men.

Then Theseus shouted to him, ' Holla, thou valiant
pine-bender, hast thou two fir-trees left for me ?'

And Sinis leapt to his feet, and answered, pointing
to the bones above his head, ' My larder has grown
empty lately, so I have two fir-trees ready for thee.'
And he rushed on Theseus, lifting his club, and
Theseus rushed upon him.

Then they hammered together till the greenwoods
rang ; but the metal was tougher than the pine, and
Sinis' club broke right across, as the bronze came
down upon it. Then Theseus heaved up another
mighty stroke, and smote Sinis down upon his face ;
and knelt upon his back, and bound him with his
own cord, and said, ' As thou hast done to others,
so shall it be done to thee.' Then he bent down
two young fir-trees, and bound Sinis between them,
for all his struggling and his prayers ; and let them
go, and ended Sinis, and went on, leaving him to
the hawks and crows.

Then he went over the hills toward Megara,
keeping close along the Saronic Sea, till he came to
the cliffs of Sciron, and the narrow path between
the mountain and the sea.

And there he saw Sciron sitting by a fountain, at

PART n THESEUS 181

tin- edge of the cliff. On his knees was a mighty
dub; and lie had barred tin- path with stones, so
that cvi-i'v one must stop who came up.

Then Theseus shouted to him, and said, ' Holla,
tliou tortoise- 1'rrder, do thv feet need washing

i/

to-day?'

And Sciron leapt to his fret, and answered—

' My tortoise is empty and hungry, and my feet
nerd washing to-day.' And he stood before his
barrier, and lifted up his club in both hands.

Then Theseus rushed upon, him; and sore was
the battle upon the cliff, for when Sciron felt the
weight of the bronze club, he dropt his own, and
closed with Theseus, and tried to hurl him by main
force over the cliff. lUit Theseus was a wary
wrestler, and dropt his own club, and caught him
by the throat and by the knee, and forced him back
against the wall of stones, and crushed him up
against them, till his breath was almost gone. And
Sciron cried panting, ' Loose me, and I will let thee
pass.' But Theseus answered, 'I must not pass
till I have made the rough way smooth;' and he
forced him back againM tin- wall till it fell, and
Scirou rolled head over heels.

Then Theseus lifted him up all bruised, and said,
'Come hither and wash my feet.' And he drew

182 THE HEROES STOIIY in

his sword, and sat down by the well, and said,
' Wash my feet, or I cut you piecemeal.'

And Sciron washed his feet trembling ; and when
it was done, Theseus rose, and cried, ' As thou hast
done to others, so shall it be done to thee. Go feed
thy tortoise thyself ; ' and he kicked him over the
cliff into the sea.

And whether the tortoise ate him, I know not ;
for some say that earth and sea both disdained to
take his body, so foul it was with sin. So the sea
cast it out upon the shore, and the shore cast it
back into the sea, and at last the waves hurled it
high into the air in auger ; and it hung there long
without a grave, till it was changed into a desolate
rock, which stands there in the surge until this day.
This at least is true, which Pausauias tells, that
in the royal porch at Athens he saw the figure of
Theseus modelled in clay, and by him Sciron the
robber falling headlong into the sea.

Then he went a long day's journey, past Megara,
into the Attic land, and high before him rose the
snow-peaks of Cithseron, all cold above the black
pine-woods, where haunt the Furies, and the raving
Bacchse, and the Nymphs who drive men wild, far
aloft upon the dreary mountains, where the storms
howl all day long. And on his right hand was the

1'AKT ii TIIKSKTS 18:5

sea always, and Salamis, \vith its island dills, and
the sauvd strait of tin- sea-iight, where afterwards
the Persians Ik-d bei'nre the (I reeks. So he went
all day until tlie evening, till he saw the rJ'hriasian
plain, and the sacred dty of Kleusis, when' the
Karth-motlier's temple stands. For there she met
Triptolemus, when all the land lay waste, Demeter
the kind Earth-mother, and in her hands a sheaf of
corn. And she taught him to plough the fallows,
and to yoke tin; lazy kine ; and she taught him to
sow the seed-fields, and to reap the golden grain :
and sent him forth to teadi all nations, and give
corn to labouring men. So at Eleusis all men honour
her, whosoever tills the laud ; her and Triptolemus
her beloved, who gave corn to labouring men.

And he went along the plain into Eleusis, and
stood in the market-place, and cried—

'Where is Kerkuon, the king of the city? 1
must wrestle a fall with him to-day.'

Then all the people crowded round him, and
cried, 'Fair youth, why will you die ? Hasten out
of the city, before the cruel king hears that a
stranger is here.'

Hut Theseus went up through the town, while
the people wept and prayed, and through the gates
of the palace-yard, and through the piles of bones

184 THE HEROES STORY in

and skulls, till he came to the door of Kerkuon's
hall, the terror of all mortal men.

And there he saw Kerkuon sitting at the table
in the hall alone ; and before him was a whole
sheep roasted, and beside him a whole jar of wine.
And Theseus stood and called him, ' Holla, thou
valiant wrestler, wilt thou wrestle a fall to-day ? '

And Kerkuon looked up and laughed, and
answered, ' I will wrestle a fall to-day ; but come
in, for I am lonely and thou weary, and eat and
drink before thou die.'

Then Theseus went up boldly, and sat clown
before Kerkuon at the board ; and he ate his fill
of the sheep's flesh, and drank his fill of the wine ;
and Theseus ate enough for three men, but Kerkuon
ate enough for seven.

But neither spoke a word to the other, though
they looked across the table by stealth ; and each
said in his heart, ' He has broad shoulders ; but I
trust mine are as broad as his.'

At last, when the sheep was eaten and the jar
of wine drained dry, King Kerkuon rose, and cried,
' Let us wrestle a fall before we sleep.'

So they tossed off all their garments, and went
forth in the palace-yard ; and Kerkuon bade strew
fresh sand in an open space between the bones.

PART ii THESEUS 185

And there the heroes stood face to face, while their
eyes glared like wild hulls'; and all the people
crowded at the gates to see what would befall.

And there they stood and wrestled, till the stars
shone out above their heads ; up and down and
muiid, till the sand was stamped hard beneath
thi-ir feet. And their eyes flashed like stars in the
darkness, and their breath went up like smoke in
the night air; but neither took nor gave a footstep,
and the people watched silent at the gates.

But at last Kerkuou grew angry, and caught
Theseus round the neck, and shook him as a mastiff
shakes a rat; blithe could not shake him off his
feet.

But Theseus was quick and wary, and clasped
Kerkuon round the waist, and slipped his loin
quickly underneath him, while he caught him by
the wrist ; and then he hove a mighty heave, a
heave which would have stirred an oak, and lifted
Kerkuon, and pitched him right over his shoulder
on the ground.

Then he leapt on him, and called, ' Yield, or I
kill thee ! ' but Kerkuon said no weird; for his
heart was burst within him with the fall, and the
meat, and the wine.

Then Theseus opened the gates, and called in all

186 THE HEROES STORY in

the people ; and they cried, ' You have slain our
evil king ; be you now our king, and rule us well.'

' I will be your king in Eleusis, and I will rule
you right and well ; for this cause I have slain all
evil-doers — Sinis, and Sciron, and this man last of
all.'

Then an aged man stepped forth, and said,
'Young hero, hast thou slain Sinis ? Beware then
of ^Egeus, king of Athens, to whom thou goest for
he is near of kin to Sinis.'

' Then I have slain my own kinsman,' said
Theseus, ' though well he deserved to die. Who
will purge me from his death, for rightfully I slew
him, unrighteous and accursed as he was ? '

And the old man answered-

'That will the heroes do, the sons of Phytalus,
who dwell beneath the elm-tree in Aphidnai, by
the bank of silver Cephisus ; for they know the
mysteries of the Gods. Thither you shall go and
be purified, and after you shall be our king.'

So he took an oath of the people of Eleusis, that
they would serve him as their king, and went away
next morning across the Thriasiau plain, and over
the hills toward Aphidnai, that he might find the
sons of Phytalus.

And as he was skirting the Vale of Cephisus,

PAKTI1 THKSKTS 1-7

along tin- loot of lofty 1'arnes, a very tall and
strong mail came down to meet him, dressed in rich
garments. On his arms \vnv golden bracelet-, and
round his neck a collar of jewels ; and he came
forward, bowing courteously, and held out l>"th his
hands, and spoke

• Welcome, lair youth, to these mountains;
happy am 1 to have met you ! For what greater
pleasure to a good man, than to entertain strangers ?
But I see that you are weary. Come up to my
castle, and rest yourself awhile.'

' I give you thanks,' said Theseus : ' hut I am
in haste to go up the valley, and to reach Aphidnai
in the Vale of Cephisus.'

' Alas ! you have wandered far from the right
way, and you cannot reach Aphidnai to-night, for
there are many miles of mountain between you
and it, and steep passes, and dill's dangerous after
nightfall. It is well for you that I met you, for
my whole joy is to find strangers, and to feast them
at my castle, and hear tales from them of foreign
lands. Come up with me, and eat the best of
venison, and drink the rich ml wine, and sleep
upon my famous bed, of which all travellers say
that they never saw the like. For whatsoever the
stature of my guest, however tall or short, that bed

188 THE HEROES STORY in

fits him to a hair, and he sleeps on it as he never
slept before.' And he laid hold on Theseus' hands,
and would not let him go.

Theseus wished to go forwards : but he was
ashamed to seem churlish to so hospitable a man ;
and he was curious to see that wondrous bed ; and
beside, he was hungry and weary : yet he shrank
from the man, he knew not why ; for, though his
voice wras gentle and fawning, it was dry and husky
like a toad's ; and though his eyes were gentle,
they were dull and cold like stones. But he
consented, and went with the man up a glen which
led from the road toward the peaks of Parnes,
under the dark shadow of the cliffs.

And as they went up, the glen grew narrower,
and the cliffs higher and darker, and beneath them
a torrent roared, half seen between bare limestone
crags. And around them was neither tree nor
bush, while from the white peaks of Parnes the
snow - blasts swept down the glen, cutting and
chilling, till a horror fell on Theseus as he looked
round at that doleful place. And he asked at last,
' Your castle stands, it seems, in a dreary region.'

' Yes ; but once within it, hospitality makes all
things cheerful. But who are these ? ' and he
looked back, and Theseus also ; and far below,

PART ii T1IKSKUS 189

along the road which they had left, came a string
(if laden asses, and merchants walking l>y them,
watching their ware.

•Ah, ]Hior souls!' said the stranger. 'Well
for them that I lookctl hack and saw them ! And
well I'nr me too, for I shall have the more guests
at my feast. Wail awhile till T go down and call
them, and we will cat and drink together the
livelong night. Happy am I, to whom Heaven
sends so many guests at once ! '

And he ran hack down the hill, waving his hand
and shouting to the merchants, while Theseus went
slowly up the steep pass.

lint as he went up he met an aged man, who
had been Leathering driftwood in the torrent-bed.
He had laid down his faggot in the road, and was
trying to lift it again to his shoulder. And when
lie saw Theseus, he called to him, and said—

'0 fair youth, help me up with my burden, for
my limbs are still' and weak with years.'

Then Theseus lifted the. burden on his back.
And the old man blest him, and then looked
earnestly upon him, and said

' Who are you, fair youth, and wherefore travel
you tlii.S doleful road ' '

'Who I am my parents know; but 1 travel this

190 THE HEROES STORY in

doleful road because I have been invited by a
hospitable man, who promises to feast me, and to
make me sleep upon I know not what wondrous
bed.'

Then the old man clapped his hands together
and cried —

' 0 house of Hades, man-devouring ! will thy
maw never be full ? Know, fair youth, that you
are going to torment and to death, for lie who met
you (I will requite your kindness by another) is
a robber and a murderer of men. Whatsoever
stranger he meets he entices him hither to death ;
and as for this bed of which he speaks, truly it fits
all comers, yet none ever rose alive off it save me.'

' "Why ? ' asked Theseus, astonished.

' Because, if a man be too tall for it, he lops his
limbs till they be short enough, and if he be too
short, he stretches his limbs till they be long
enough : but me only he spared, seven weary years
agone ; for I alone of all fitted his bed exactly, so
he spared me, and made me his slave. And once I
was a wealthy merchant, and dwelt in brazen-gated
Thebes ; but now I hew wood and draw water for
him, the torment of all mortal men.'

Then Theseus said nothing; but he ground his
teeth together.

PARTI] T1IKSKUS 191

'Escape, then,' said tlu- old man, 'for lie will
have nn pity <m thy youth. J'.ut yesterday he
brought up hither a young man and a maiden, and
iittcd tlirin upon his Led ; and the young man's
hands and feet he cut off, hut the maiden's limits he
stretched until she died, and so both perished miser-
ably— but 1 am tired of weeping over the slain.
And therefore lie is called Procrustes the stretcher,
though his father called him Damastes. Flee from
him: yet whither will you ilee ? The cliffs are
steep, and who can climb them ? and there is no
other road.'

But Theseus laid his hand upon the old man's
mouth, and said, ' There is no need to flee ; ' and
he turned to go down the pass.

'Do not tell him that I have warned you, or he
will kill me by some evil death ;' and the old man
screamed after him down the glen; but Theseus
strode on in his wrath.

And he said to himself, 'This is an ill-ruled land;
when shall I have done lidding it of monsters?'
And as he spoke, Procrustes came up the hill, and
all the merchants with him, smiling and talking
gaily. And when he saw Theseus, he cried, 'Ah,
fair young guest, have I kept you too long waiting?'

1'iit Theseus answered, 'The man who stretches

192 THE HEROES STORY in

his guests upon a bed and hews off their hands and
feet, what shall be done to him, when right is done
throughout the land ?'

Then Procrustes' countenance changed, and his
cheeks grew as green as a lizard, and he felt for his
sword in haste ; but Theseus leapt on him, and
cried—

' Is this true, my host, or is it false ? ' and he
clasped Procrustes round waist and elbow, so that he
could not draw his sword.

' Is this true, my host, or is it false ?' But Pro-
crustes answered never a word.

Then Theseus flung him from him, and lifted up
his dreadful club ; and before Procrustes could strike
him he had struck, and felled him to the ground.

And once again he struck him ; and his evil soul
fled forth, and went clown to Hades squeaking, like
a bat into the darkness of a cave.

Then Theseus stript him of his gold ornaments,
and went up to his house, and found there great
wealth and treasure, which he had stolen from
the passers-by. And he called the people of the
country, whom Procrustes had spoiled a long time,
and parted the spoil among them, and went down
the mountains, and away.

And he went down the glens of Parnes,

PART ii THF.SKrs i;.:j

through mist, ;unl eluiid, and rain, down tin; slopes <.f
i>ak, anil Imti-k, Mini arbutus, Mini fragrant l.iay, till
he came to the Yale <>[' ( Vphisus, Mini the pleasant
town of Aphidnai, and the home of tin-, Phytalid
heroes, where they dwelt beneath a mighty elm.

And there they built an altar, and hade him bathe
in Cephisus, and offer a yearling ram, and puritied
him from the hlood <if Sinis, and sent him away in
peace.

And he went down the valley hy Acharnai, and
hy the silver-swirling >lrram, while all the people
hlessed him, lor the fame of his prowess hail spread
wide, till he saw the plain of Athens, and the hill
where Athene dwells.

So Theseus went up through Athens, and all the
people ran out to see him; for his fame had jjfone
before him, and every one knew of his mighty deeds.
And all cried, • Here comes the hero who slew Sinis,
and Phaia the wild sow of ( 'rommyoii, and eonipieivd
Kerkuon in wrestling, Mini slew I'i'oernstes the piti-
less.' Hut Theseus went on sadly and steadfastly.
for his heart yearned after his father: and he said,
1I"W shall I deliver him from these leeehes who
suck his blood V

So he went up the. holy -tairs, and into the Acro-

pidis, where . l-'.^eiis' palaee si 1 ; and he went

O

194 THE HEROES PTOKY in

straight into ^Egeus' hall, and stood upon the
threshold, and looked round.

And there he saw his cousins sitting about the
table at the wine : many a son of Pallas, but no
vEgeus among them. There they sat and feasted,
and laughed, and passed the wine-cup round ; while
harpers harped, and slave-girls sang, and the tumblers
showed their tricks.

Loud laughed the sons of Pallas, and fast went
the wine-cup round ; but Theseus frowned, and said
under his breath, ' No wonder that the land is full
of robbers, while such as these bear rule.'

Then the Pallantids saw him, and called to him,
half-drunk with wine, ' Holla, tall stranger at the
door, what is your will to-day ? '

' I come hither to ask for hospitality.'

' Then take it, and welcome. You look like a
hero and a bold warrior ; and we like such to drink
with us.'

' I ask no hospitality of you ; I ask it of J^geus
the king, the master of this house.'

At that some growled, and some laughed,
and shouted, ' Heyday ! we are all masters
here.'

' Then I am master as much as the rest of you,'
said Theseus, and he strode past the table up the

I-AI:T n TIIKSKl'S 1 !•:.

hall, and looked around for /KLM-US ; luit In- was

nowhere to he seen.

The I'allautids looked at him, and then at each
other- and each whispered to the man next him.
1 This is a forward fellow ; he oULjht to lie thrust out
at the door.' P.iit eaeh man's nei^hhour whispered
in return. ' His shoulders are Imiad ; will you rise
and put him out ' ' So they all sat still where
they were.

Then Theseus called to the servants, and said.
'Go tell Kin."; .Kueus. your master, that Theseus of
Tro'/eiie is here, and asks to lie his eiiest awhile.'

A servant ran and told .K-eus, where he sat in
his ehainlier within, l>y Medeia the dark witch-woman,
watching her eye and hand. And when Jv^ens
heard of Troezene he turned pale and ivd attain, and
rose from his scat trendilin^. while Medeia watched
him like a snake.

• What is Tro'xene to you .'' she asked. Jiut he
-aid hastily, ' I >o yon nut know who this Theseii-
is '. The hero who has cleared the country from all
monsters; lmt that he came from Tm-xeiie, 1 never
heard lie fore. I must ^-o out and welcome him.'

So . Kiie-Ks came out into the hall ; and when
Theseus saw him, his heart leapt into his month,
and he longed to tall on his neck and Welcome him;

196 THE HEROES STORY in

but he controlled himself, and said, ' My father
may not wish for me, after all. I will try him
before I discover myself ; ' and he bowed low before
^Egeus, and said, ' I have delivered the king's realm
from many monsters ; therefore I am come to ask
a reward of the king.'

And old ^Egeus looked on him, and loved him, as
what fond heart would not have done ? But he
only sighed, and said—

' It is little that I can give you, noble lad, and
nothing that is worthy of you ; for surely you are
no mortal man, or at least no mortal's son.'

' All I ask,' said Theseus, ' is to eat and drink at
your table.'

' That I can give you,' said ^Egeus, ' if at least
I am master in my own hall.'

Then he bade them put a seat for Theseus, and
set before him the best of the feast ; and Theseus
sat and ate so much, that all the company wondered
at him : but always he kept his club by his side.

But Medeia the dark witch -woman had been
watching him all the while. She saw how yEgeus
turned red and pale when the lad said that he came
from Trcezene. She saw, too, how his heart was
opened toward Theseus ; and how Theseus bore
himself before all the sons of Pallas, like a lion

PART II TIIKSKIS l;.7

iimoiiL; ;i park uf mi's. Ainl slit- said t«i herself,
' This youth will In.- master here: perhaps he is
nearer tu .T'.ueiis alreadv than niciv fancy. At Im-t

» .

tin- Tallantirls \vill have no chance l>y the side of
such as he.'

'J'hen she went hack into her chamber modestlv,

•

while Theseus ate and drank ; and all the servant-*
whispered. ' This, then, is the man who killed the
monsters '. How noble are his looks, and how hu-v
his -i/e : All. would that he were our master's .son !'

liut presently Medeia came t'oiih, decked iii all
her jewels, and her rich Eastern robes, and lookin-
more beautiful than the day. so that all the gu>
could lonk at nothing else. And in her ri^ht hand
she held a golden cup, and in her left a tlask of
L;old : and she came up to Theseus, and spoke in a
-weet, soft, winning voice—

' Hail to the hero, the eoiKjiieror, the uiiconi|Uereil,
the destroyer of all evil things ! I )i-ink, hero, of my
charmed cup, which "jves rest after every toil, which
heals all wounds, and pour- new life into the vein-.
Drink of my cup, for in it sparkles the wine o! the
K;t-t. and Nepenthes, the comforl of the Immortals.'

And as she -poke, she poured the tlask into the
dip: and the fra-rance of the wine spread through
the hall, like the scent of thyme and ro-es.

198 THE HEROES STORY in

And Theseus looked up in her fair face and into
her deep dark eyes. And as he looked, he shrank
and shuddered ; for they were dry like the eyes of
a snake. And he rose, and said, ' The wine is rich
and fragrant, and the wine-bearer as fair as the
Immortals ; but let her pledge me first herself in the
cup, that the wine may be the sweeter from her lips.'

Then Medeia turned pale, and stammered,
' Forgive me, fair hero ; but I am ill, and dare
drink no wine.'

And Theseus looked again into her eyes, and
cried, ' Thou shalt pledge me in that cup, or die.'
And he lifted up his brazen club, while all the
guests looked on aghast.

Medeia shrieked a fearful shriek, and dashed the
cup to the ground, and fled ; and where the wine
flowed over the marble pavement, the stone bubbled,
and crumbled, and hissed, under the fierce venom
of the draught.

But Medeia called her dragon chariot, and sprang
into it and fled aloft, away over land and sea, and
no man saw her more.

And ./Egeus cried, ' What hast thou done ? '
But Theseus pointed to the stone, ' I have rid the
land of an enchantment : now I will rid it of one
more.'

PART II TIIKSKIS 1 '.''.'

And In- came close i<> J-l-i-us, ami drew from his
In I-M mi tin- sword ami the sandals, and said the
\v..rds \\liich hi- mother bade him.

And .Ivjeus stepped haek a pai e, and looked at
the lad till his eyes ^rew dim ; and then he east
himself <in his ncek ami wept, and Theseus wept mi
his ueck, till they liad no strength left to weep more.

Thru .Kirns turned to all the people, ami crieil.
• I'.ehold my son, children of Kekrops, a better man
than hi- father \vas liet'ore him.'

Who, then, were mud but the 1'allantids, thuu-h
they had been, mad enough liefon- ' And one
shouted, 'Shall we make room i'ur an upstart, a
pretender, who comes 1'rum w(i know not where''
And another, ' If lie be one, we are more than one ;
and the >tioiit;er can hold his own.' And one
shouted one, thin-, and one another; lor they were
hot and wild with wine: but all eau^lit .swords and
lances off tin; wall, where the weapons huii^ around,
and sprang forward to Theseus, and Theseus sprang
forward to them.

And In- ericd, ' < !o in peace, if you will, my
cousin-; but if not, your blood be on your own
heads.' I'-ut they rushed at him ; and then stopped
short and railed him, as curs stop and bark \\heii
they rouse a lion from his lair.

200 THE HEROES STORY in

But one hurled a lauce from the rear rank,
which past close by Theseus' head ; and at that
Theseus rushed forward, and the fight began indeed.
Twenty against one they fought, and yet Theseus
beat them all ; and those who were left fled down
into the town, where the people set on them, and
drove them out, till Theseus was left alone in the
palace, with ^Egeus his new-found father. But
before nightfall all the town came up, with victims,
and dances, and songs ; and they offered sacrifices to
Athene, and rejoiced all the night long, because
their king had found a noble son, and an heir to his
royal house.

So Theseus stayed with his father all the winter ;
and when the spring equinox drew near, all the
Athenians grew sad and silent, and Theseus saw it,
and asked the reason • but no one would answer
him a word.

Then he went to his father, and asked him : but
vEgeus turned away his face and wept.

' Do not ask, my sou, beforehand, about evils
which must happen : it is enough to have to face
them when they come.'

And when the spring equinox came, a herald
came to Athens, and stood in the market, and cried,
' 0 people and King of Athens, where is your yearly

PART II THKSKI'S 201

tribute .' ' Thru ;i great lamentation arose throughout
the city. I'-ut Theseus stood up to the herald, and

cried—

• And who are you, dog-faced, who dare demand
triliute here? It' 1 did not reverence your herald's
Mall'. I would brain you with this chili.'

And the herald answered proudly, for he was a
grave and ancient man—

' Fair youth, I am not dog-faced or shameless ;
but I do my master's bidding, Minos, the King of
hundred-citied Crete, the wisest of all kings on
earth. And you must be surely a stranger here, or
you would know why 1 come, and that T come by
right.'

' I am a stranger here. Tell me, then, why you
come.'

'To fetch the tribute which King .Fgeus
promised to Minos, and confirmed his promise with
an oath. For Minos conquered all this land, and
Megara which lies to the east, when he came hither
with a great fleet of ships, enraged about the murder
of his son. For his son Androgeos came hither to
the Panathenaic games, and overcame all the (J reeks
in the sports, so that the people honoured him as a
hero. I'.ut when ^Egeus saw his valour, he envied
him, and feared lest he should join the sons of

202 THE HEROES STORY in

Pallas, and take away the sceptre from him. So he
plotted against his life, and slew him basely, no man
knows how or where. Some say that he waylaid
him l>y Oinoe, on the road which goes to Thebes;
and some that lie sent him against the bull of
Marathon, that the beast might kill him. But
.Egeus says that the young men killed him from
envy, because he had conquered them in the games.
So Minos came hither and avenged him, and would
not depart till this land had promised him tribute-
seven youths and seven maidens every year, who go
with me in a black-sailed ship, till they come to
hundred-citied Crete.'

And Theseus ground his teeth together, and said,
' AVert thou not a herald I would kill thee for
saying such things of my father ; but I will go to
him, and know the truth.' So he went to his father,
and asked him ; but he turned away his head and
wept, and said, ' Blood was .shed in the land un-
justly, and by blood it is avenged. Break not my
heart by questions ; it is enough to endure in
silence.'

Then Theseus groaned inwardly, and said, ' I will
go myself with these youths and maidens, and kill
Minos upon his royal throne.'

And JEgeus shrieked, and cried, ' You shall not

PARTII THESEUS

my son, tin- light of my old age, to whom a
I louk to rule this people after 1 am dead and gone.
You shall not go, to die horribly, as those youths
and maidens die; fur .Minus thrusts them into a
labyrinth, whieh Ihiidalos made for him among the
rucks I>aidalos the renegade, the accursed, the
pest of this his native land. From that labyrinth
no one can escape, entangled iii its winding ways,
before they meet the Minotaur, the monster who
feeds upon the flesh of men. There lie devours
them horribly, and they never see this land

again.

Then Theseus grew red, and his ears tingled, and
his heart beat loud in his bosom. And he stood
awhile like a tall stone pillar on the dills above
Minie hero's grave; and at last he spoke—

'Therefore all the mure I will ,uu with them,
and slay the aeeursecl beast. Have 1 not slain all
evil-dons and monsters, that 1 might live this land '.
Where arc iViiphetes, and Sinis, and Kerkuon, and
I'haia the wild sow ( Where an- the lifty sons
of 1'allas >. And this Minotaur shall go the road
which they have gone, and Minos himself, it' lit-
dare stay me.'

' I'.ut how will you slay him, my son '. Fur you
must leave your dub and your armour behind, ami

204 THE HEROES STORY in

be cast to the monster, defenceless and naked like
the rest.'

And Theseus said, ' Are there no stones in that
labyrinth ; and have I not fists and teeth ? Did I
need my club to kill Kerkuon, the terror of all
mortal men ? '

Then ^Egeus clung to his knees ; but he would
not hear; and at last he let him go, weeping
bitterly, and said only this one word —

' Promise me but this, if you return in peace,
though that may hardly be : take down the black
sail of the ship (for I shall watch for it all day
upon the cliffs), and hoist instead a white sail, that
I may know afar off that you are safe.'

And Theseus promised, and went out, and to the
market-place where the herald stood, while they
drew lots for the youths and maidens, who were to
sail in that doleful crew. And the people stood
wailing and weeping, as the lot fell on this one and
on that; but Theseus strode into the midst, and cried —

' Here is a youth who needs no lot. I myself
will be one of the seven.'

And the herald asked in wonder, ' Fair youth,
know you whither you are "oiii" ? '

* •/ O O

And Theseus said, ' I know. Let us go down to
the black-sailed ship.'

i A in- ii TUKSKl'S 205

So they went down tn tlif lilark-siilrd ship,
-••veil maidens, ami srvm youths, and Theseus
lieforc them all, and the people following them
lament ing. l>ut Theseus whispered to his com-
panions, 'Have hope, for the nnnisti'i' is not im-
mortal. Where aiv IVriphetes and Sinis, and
Scii'on, and all \vhnm I have slain?' Then their
hearts were comforted a little; Lut they wept as
they went on hoard, and the eliil's of Sunium rang,
and all the isles of the --Egean Sea, with the voice
of their lamentation, as they sailed on toward their
deaths in Crete.

PAET III

HOW THESEUS SLEW THE MINOTAUR

AND at last they came to Crete, and to Cnossus,
beneath the peaks of Ida, and to the palace of Minos
the great king, to whom Zeus himself taught laws.
So he was the wisest of all mortal kings, and
conquered all the ./Egean isles ; and his ships were
as many as the sea-gulls, and his palace like a
marble hill. And he sat among the pillars of the
hall, upon his throne of beaten gold, and around
him stood the speaking statues which Daidalos had
made by his skill. For Daidalos was the most
cunning of all Athenians, and he first invented
the plumb-line, and the auger, and glue, and many
a tool with which wood is wrought. And he first
set up masts in ships, and yards, and his son made
sails for them : but Perdix his nephew excelled
him ; for he first invented the saw and its teeth,
copying it from the back-bone of a fish ; and in-

in THKSKUS 207

\etite>l. tun. the chisel, and the compasses, and the

potter'- wheel which mould.- tin- cLiy. Therefore
I>aidal<>- envied him, ami hurled him headlong

I'm Ml the temple of Athene ; but the Coddess pitied

him (fur <he lo\w (he wise), and changed him into
a partridge, which Hits lor ever alioul the hills.
And ]>aidalos Hed to Crete, to Minos, and worked
for him many a year, till he did a shameful deed,
at which the sun hid his face on high.

Then he lied from the anger of Minos, he and
Icaros his son having made themselves wings of
leathers, and fixed the feathers with wax. So they
ll'-\v over the sea toward Sicily; but Icaros flew
too near the sun ; and the wax of his wings was
melted, and he fell into the Icarian Sea. JUut
I>aidalos eanie safe to Sicily, and there wrought
many a wondrous work; for he made for King
Cocalos a reservoir, from which a great river
watered all the land, and a castle and a treasury
on a mountain, which the giants themselves could
not have stormed; and in Selinos he took the steam
which comes up from the iires of .Etna, and marie
of it a warm hath of vapour, to cure the pains of
mortal men; and he made a honeycomb of gold, in
which the bees came and stored their honey, and
in Kgvpt he made the forecourt of the tempie of

208 THE HEROES STORY in

Hepliaistos iii Memphis, and a statue of himself
within it, and many another wondrous work. And
for Minos he made statues which spoke and moved,
and the temple of Britomartis, and the dancing-hall
of Ariadne, which he carved of fair white stone.
And in Sardinia he worked for Idlaos. and in many
a laud beside, wandering np and down for ever with
his cunning, unlovely and accursed by men.

But Theseus stood before Minos, and they looked
each other in the face. And Minos bade take them
to prison, and cast them to the monster one by one,
that the death of Androgeos might be avenged.
Then Theseus cried—

' A boon, 0 Minos ! Let me be thrown first to
the beast. For I came hither for that very purpose,
of my own will, and not by lot.'

' Who art thou, then, brave youth C

' I am the son of him whom of all men thou
hatest most, vEgeus the king of Athens, and I am
come here to end this matter.'

And Minos pondered awhile, looking steadfastly
at him, and he thought, ' The lad means to atone
by his own death for his father's sin ; ' and he
answered at last mildly—

' Go back in peace, my son. It is a pity that
one so brave should die.'

PART 111 TiiKsr.rs 209

lint Theseii- said, ' I have sworn that 1 will
inn v.0 luck till I have seen the monster face to

face.'

And at that Minos frowned, ami said, 'Then
thoii shall sec him; take the madman awav.'

d

And they led Theseus awav into the prison, with
the oilier youths and maids.

Hut Ariadne, Minos' daughter, saw him, as she
came out of her white stone hall ; and she loved
him for his courage and his majesty, and said.
' Shame that such a youth should die ! And by
night she. went down to the prison, and told him
all her heart ; and said—

'Flee down to your ship at once, for 1 have
bribed the guards before the door. Flee, you and
all your friends, and go back in peace to (ireece;
and take me, take me with you ! for I dare not
stay after you are gone; for my father will kill me
miserably, if he knows what I have done.'

And Theseus stood silent awhile; for he was
astonished and confounded by her beauty: but at
last he said,' I cannot go home in peace, till I have
seen and slain this Minotaur, and avenged the
deaths of the youths and maiden-, and put an end
to the terrors of my land.'

And will you kill the Minotaur:1 Ilow.then''

210 THE HEROES STORY in

' I know not, nor do I care : but he must be
strong if lie be too strong for me.'

Then she loved him all the more, and said, ' But
when you have killed him, how will you find your
way out of the labyrinth ?'

' I know not, neither do I care : but it must be
a strange road, if I do not find it out before I have
eaten up the monster's carcase.'

Then she loved him all the more, and said—
' Fair youth, you are too bold ; but I can help
you, weak as I am. I will give you a sword, and
with that perhaps you may slay the beast ; and a
clue of thread, and by that, perhaps, you may find
your way out again. Only promise me that if you
escape safe you will take me home with you to
Greece ; for my father will surely kill me, if he
knows what I have done.'

Then Theseus laughed, and said, ' Am I not safe
enough now ? ' And he hid the sword in his
bosom, and rolled up the clue in his hand ; and
then he swore to Ariadne, and fell down before her,
and kissed her hands and her feet ; and she wept
over him a long while, and then went away ; and
Theseus lay down and slept sweetly.

And when the evening came, the guards came in
and led him away to the labyrinth.

i-ARTin THKSKI'S

And he went down into that doleful gulf, through
winding paths among the rocks, under caverns, and
arches, and galleries, and over heaps of fallen stone.
And he turned on the left hand, and on the right
hand, and went up and down, till his head was
dizzy; hut all the while lie held his elue. For
when he went in he had fastened it to a stone, and
left it to unroll out of his hand as he went on ; and
it lasted him till he met the Minotaur, in a narrow
chasm between black dill's.

And when he saw him he stopped awhile, for he
had never seen so strange a beast. His body was a
man's : but his head was the head of a bull ; and
his teeth were the teeth of a lion ; and with them
he tore his prey. And when he saw Theseus he
roared, and put his head down, and rushed right at
him.

But Theseus stept aside nimbly, and as he passed
by, cut him in the knee ; and ere he could turn in
the narrow path, he followed him, and stabbed him
again and again from behind, till the monster llnl
bellowing wildly ; for he never before had felt a
wound. And Theseus followed him at full speed,
holding the clue of thread in his left hand.

Then on, through cavern after cavern, under dark
ribs of sounding stone, and up rough glens and

•21-2

THE HEROES

STOKY III

torrent-beds, among the sunless roots of Ida, aud to
the edge of the eternal snow, went they, the hunter

and the hunted, while the hills bellowed to the
monster's bellow.

PART in TIIKSKTS

Ami ;ii last Theseus came up with him. \\herc
lie lay panting on a slal> aiuoii^ tin- snow, and
can-lit him hy the horns, ami forced his head hack,
and drove the keen sword thron-h his throat.

Thru he turned, ami went hack limping and
weary, t'eelin-' hi- way down liy the cine of thread,
till he dime to the month of that doleful place ;
ami saw waiting for him, whom hut Ariadne :

And he whispered ' It is done ! ' and showed her
the sword : and she laid her linger on her lips, and
led him to the prison, and opened the doors, and set
all the prisoners free, while the guards lay sleeping
heavily ; for she had silenced them with wine.

Then they lied to their ship together. ;md leapt
on hoard, and hoisted up the sail; and the iii-lit
lay dark around them, SO that they passed through
Minos' ,-diips. and escaped all safe to Xaxos : and
there Ariadne hecanie Theseus' wil'e.

PART IV

HOW THESEUS FELL BY HIS PRIDE

BUT that fair Ariadne never came to Athens with
her husband. Some say that Theseus left her
sleeping on Xaxos among the Cyclades ; and that
Dionusos the wine-king found her, and took her up
into the sky, as you shall see some day in a paint-
ing of old Titian's — one of the most glorious
pictures upon earth. And some say that Dionusos
drove away Theseus, and took Ariadne from him by
force : but however tha* may be, in his haste or in
his grief, Theseus forgot to put up the white sail.
Now JEgens his father sat and watched on Simiuin
day after day, and strained his old eyes across the
sea to see the ship afar. And when he saw the
b]'i.ck sail, and not the white one, he gave up
Theseus for dead, and in his grief he fell into the
sea, and died ; so it is called the JEge&n to this
day.

PART IV T11KSK1S 215

And now Theseus \vns kinc; of Athens, and he
guarded it and ruled it well.

For In- killed the hull of Marathon, which had
killed Androucos. Minos' son ; and he di-ove back
the famous Ama/ons, the warlike women of the
Mast, when they came from Asia, and conquered all
Hellas, and broke into Athens its. -It'. I>ut Theseus
stopped them there, and conquered them, and took
Hippolute their queen to he his wife. Then he
went out to fight against the Lapithai, and Peirithoos
their famous king: hut when the two heroes came
face to face they loved each other, and embraced,
and became noble friends ; so that the friendship of
Theseus and IVirithous is a proverb even now.
And he gathered (so the Athenians say) all the
boroughs of the land together, and knit them into
one strong people, while before they were all parted
and weak : and many another wise tiling he did, so
that his people honoured him after he was dead, for
many a hundred years, as the father of their free-
dom and their laws. And six hundred years after
his death, in the famous liuht at Marathon, men
-aid that they saw the gho.st of Theseus, with his
mighly bra/en club, liiditinu in the van ot battle
against the invading 1'ersian-. for the count i-y which
he loved. And twenty years after Marathon his

216 THE HEROES STORY in

bones (they say) were found in Scuros, an isle
beyond the sea ; and they were bigger than the
bones of mortal man. So the Athenians brought
them home in triumph ; and all the people came
out to welcome them; and they built over them a
noble temple, and adorned it with sculptures and
paintings ; in which we are told all the noble deeds
of Theseus, and the Centaurs, and the Lapithai, and
the Amazons ; and the ruins of it are standing still.

But why did they find his bones in Scuros ?
Why did he not die in peace at Athens, and sleep
by his father's side ? I localise after his triumph he
grew proud, and broke the laws of Clod and man.
And one thing worst of all he did, which brought
him to his grave with sorrow. For he went down
(they say beneath the earth) with that bold Peiri-
thoos his friend to help him to carry off Persephone,
the queen of the world below. But Peirithoos was
killed miserably, in the dark fire-kingdoms under
ground ; and Theseus was chained to a rock in
everlasting pain. And there he sat for years, till
Heracles the mighty came down to bring up the
three-headed dog who sits at Pluto's gate. 80
Heracles loosed him from his chain, and brought
him up to the light once more.

But when he came back his people had forgotten

1'Aur iv

THESEUS

him, and Castor ;in.l I'nlydriuvs, the sons of tin-
\\Miidrnns Swan, hail invaded his land, amt carried

It his mother Aithra for a slave, in revenue foi a

-rn-vou- \vrnn-.

218 THE HEROES STORY in

So the fair land of Athens was wasted, and
another king ruled it, who drove out Theseus
shamefully, and he fled across the sea to Scuros.
And there he lived in sadness, in the house of
Lucomedes the king, till Lucomedes killed him by
treachery, and there was an end of all his labours.

So it is still, my children, and so it will be to
the end. In those old Greeks, and in us also, all
strength and virtue come from God. But if men
grow proud and self-willed, and misuse God's fail-
gifts, He lets them go their own ways, and fall
pitifully, that the glory may be His alone. God
help us all, and give us wisdom, and courage to do
noble deeds ! but God keep pride from us when we
have done them, lest we fall, and come to shame !

CIRCULATION
CHILDREN'S ROOM

THE END

Printed ly R. & R. CLARK. LIMITED. Edinburgh.

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By Mrs. Molesworth — continued

THE ADVENTURES OF HERR BABY. Illus.
TELL ME A STORY. Illustrated
LITTLE MISS PEGGY. Illustrated

* CHRISTMAS-TREE LAND. Illustrated

* THE RECTORY CHILDREN. Illustrated

* ROSY. Illus. | *TWO LITTLE WAIFS. Illus.

* FOUR WINDS FARM. Illustrated

* MISS MOUSE AND HER BOYS. Illustrated
*THE RUBY RING. Illustrated

* SHEILA'S MYSTERY. Illustrated

* THE ORIEL WINDOW. Illustrated

By J. Morier

HAJJI BABA OF ISPAHAN. Illustrated

By Mowbray Morris

* TALES OF THE SPANISH MAIN. Illustrated

By H. E. Norton

A BOOK OF COURTESY. Illustrated

By Mrs. Oliphant

AGNES HOPETOUN. Illustrated

By C. W. C. Oman

WARWICK THE KING-MAKER. Illustrated

By Eleanor C. Price

IN THE LION'S MOUTH Illustrated

By Sir Walter Scott

* KENILWORTH. Illus. | *THE TALISMAN. Illus.

* COUNT ROBERT OF PARIS. Illustrated

By W. M. Thackeray

* THE HISTORY OF HENRY ESMOND

By Charlotte M. Yonge

THE LITTLE DUKE. Illustrated
THE LANCES OF LYNWOOD. Illustrated
THE PRINCE AND THE PAGE. Illustrated
THE ARMOURER'S 'PRENTICES. Illustrated
P'S AND Q'S AND LITTLE LUCY'S WONDER-
FUL GLOBE. Illustrated
UNKNOWN TO HISTORY. Illustrated
THE DOVE IN THE EAGLE'S NEST. Illustrated

Further volumes will le added from time to time

MACMILLAN AND CO., LTD., LONDON

rSnl Cl C^LATION s. ,3,,
CHILDREN'S ROOM